Giving Communication the Respect it Deserves

When it comes to communication, there are many things to which we can all be grateful. For starters, it is what makes it possible for all of us to connect with each other. Without it, there is little chance any of us would have the ability to create and maintain ties that bind. How would any one, for instance, know we want to speak with them? How would any one let us know they want to "friend us"" on Facebook? On the flip side of that, how could any one tell another they want nothing to do with them? More seriously, how would any of us learn that a cure for cancer has been discovered? Without our ability to communicate, even imperfectly, none of these scenarios would be possible or probably even thinkable.


Not only does our ability to communicate define us as the living creatures we are, but it is a major reason why we continue to remain at the top of the food chain. In short, communication is no small thing. It is an act none of us should ever take for granted, nor one we should ever view with anything less than the greatest respect. Sadly, there are times when we do just that; times when we abuse our ability to communicate. That occurs when we belittle others, insult them because their perspectives are different than ours, and even initiate violence against them because they have something we want. None of these are good acts of communication. They all are examples of abuses of the act of communication.


Often, communication is discussed as an act persuasion or one designed to establish relationships of some sort. Neither of these purposes are bad, of course. Yet without communication, those basic purposes that often drive our behavior would probably be figments in someone's imagination - if that. Certainly, all of us can be better communicators than we are. Perhaps one way to achieve that is to reflect on communication itself. There are no living creatures that have this ability in the way we do. This not only makes it important, but in many ways sacred. Our species needs to do a better job of honoring its existence rather than the opposite.