Simple and Complex

What could be more easy than communication? Think about it. You tell someone that you feel, say, "good." And now they know. You ask them how they are and they respond. You go to a marketplace and order radishes. The next thing you know you are back i the car with your desired item. Easy peasy. Given that. Why have so many people been making such a big deal over such a seemingly simple act for so long? Why have multiple conferences literally all over the world? Why write books? Why have classes or even scholarly majors on this topic at colleges and universities? On the surface, it does not make sense.

As a communication practitioner and scholar for many years, I will concede that in many ways, the act of communicating is simple. Straightforward even. In my own daily life, I try to keep it as uncomplicated as possible in my daily exchanges and encounters with friends, family members and strangers. Thinking back on them, I cannot help but agree that for the most part my interactions go well. Looking forward, I see it is much the same with most everyone else. Am I far wrong in my unscientific observation that pretty much all of us communicate successfully every day of our lives? This, then, takes me back to my original question about communication being easy.

No question this is true. At the same time - and this is where it gets tricky - communication is also complex. How, one might ask, are both true? It is one thing to impart a thought to another and even to receive a thought from that other. But it is quite another to build on such a basic exchange to the point where an ongoing dialog.is established. And then there is the matter that people - all of us - are constantly adjusting and changing our inner thoughts and feelings. This affects how and what we communicate to others. And that forces those of us on the receiving end to be flexible in how we process that input and how we respond. And so it goes. Bottom line: communication is both simple and complex.