SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE ART OF COMMUNICATION

A long time ago, a very long time ago, when I was a child, my mother, a trained, talented musician, encouraged me, her first child, to read. Read anything, she said. Not that she approved of my reading salacious novels in elementary grades, but I was never restricted to the children’s section of the local library. My father supported my mother, although his job took him away from home a good deal of the summer months. I had interesting trips with dad, like my first taste of beer on the lap of a farm woman in their yard somewhere in north central Minnesota. That’s where I also learned, as a child to steer a car on a winding gravel road.

I have pretty good language skills, even if I don’t fully understand some of today’s slang. “Woke?” I suspect a lot of “leaders” in our government today have an imperfect understanding of that. But I digress. In my retirement years, I watch a lot of government activities, such as Senate and House hearings. I am struck by the realization that many, if not all Senators, Representatives and those called before the panels to testify, are unable to logically and precisely articulate their questions—or even their comments and responses. I know that most of our representatives from the President on have speech writers to prepare and carefully calculate the probable response to the language of their statements. And then the elected read them. And then, at hearings, they go on and ask unrehearsed questions. And the people they have called to testify try to answer. And logic and real communication, with a cackle, disappears out the door.

It appears that the American English language, one of the most flexible and difficult in the world, is being ignored in our schools in favor of something called job skills. In a not-too-distant previous era, over 90% of the CEOs of the most successful corporations in America had earned a liberal arts degree in college. At the time, that meant subjects like history, humanities, civics, social studies, mathematics, English and similar topics that could be universally applied to almost every situation were emphasized. Does anybody remember that an effective way to learn a language is through reading of history, of social studies, of fiction?

Today, our colleges supply accountants and business majors focused on the profit line. It is clear that in most corporate and government institutions, output is the measure, not the results or improvement of the lives of people. Just look at recent events across our nation. Derailments, radiation leaks into water systems, explosions of dangerous material stockpiles all lead to even greater suspicion of government. Why? Because silence is suspicious.

It is clear today that any event even with the faint potential that threatens the health or wellbeing of a community should be immediately reported, along with assurances of containment. Every moment of silence leads only to suspicion and often to disbursement of falsity. In today’s environment open communication is of paramount importance. Unfortunately, in government and life, open communication is a lost commodity, a lost art.