"Okay"

The other day I read that the most universally-understood expression in the world is "Okay." Simple. Straightforward. To the point. If true, it makes sense. Looking back at my international travels - not a lot but enough to include parts of Asia, Europe and Australia/New Zealand - I am hard-pressed to identify any other phrase or expression to offer up as being even close to being more understood by folks who may not speak English or share a common language. For that matter, off-hand I can think of no better expression that I would rather see holding such a distinct position.

"Okay" connotes understanding, acceptance, and a spirit of cooperation and suggests a positive state of well being that is both reassuring and comforting. For nearly a year while living in South Korea, I took drum lessons from a teacher who spoke very little English. (I spoke virtually no Korean.) Despite that, the instructor was able to raise my level of proficiency, in no small way, by giving me heartfelt smiles and an "okay" whenever I managed to play something correctly. The smile and "okay" never failed to make me feel good and give me a boost in confidence. At the same time, whenever the teacher tried to explain something to me, an "okay" from me seemed to give her a boost as well.

No question the times in which much of the planet exists these days are troubled. The coronavirus pandemic alone seems to have knocked a number of nations off-balance with their rising death tolls and infection rates. On top of that, here in the United States, racially-driven riots are taking place in multiple cities while unemployment are at record-highs. The result is people are not in a good place. All of us could use a lot more "okays"' in our days than we have either been expressing or receiving. The challenge is what can be done to make that happen. What can each of us be doing to be able to exchange a heartfelt "okay" with others? This is as great of a behavioral and communication challenge as we have faced in many generations.