Language and Strength
Language, one of the most common things in people’s daily life, is the tool we use to communicate our feelings and interact with the outer world, which is analogous to a round ticket. As magnificent as language can be used as a tool with powers, and, at the same time, give people strength.
In the ancient Japan, there was a myth called “Kotodama”, which means the magic of language, or the soul of language. Because of the traditional shamanism and the animism people believe, it is said that in the languages live the mysteries deities who can control other’s bodies, minds and souls. Therefore, people seldom tell others their real name just in case of being manipulated. And in some the ancient stories, shamans can summon or command those mythical creatures by calling their names.
With the passage of time, the entire society has evolved from a mythological one into a realistic and scientific one. However, the strength of language hasn’t diminished along with the human evolvement. The strength of language is to make a connection between people ‘s emotions. As known by many, people’ emotions are not automatically connected. As said by Luxun, “There’s a man dying downstairs, and a woman crying for her dead mother. However, I only feel that they are too noisy.” There was a tradition in the funeral that there should always be a person who can tell the life of the dead, whose purpose is to show the respects to the dead. It is definitely a very interesting thing to have such a part in the funeral. Because people who attend the funeral are the ones that have only accompanied the dead during a period of time in his life. However, when people are listening to the stories that are irrelevant to themselves, they can still feel the emotions in it and even be moved to cry, which is due to the strength of language. The way the speaker constructs his speech and the tone he uses draw all the people into his own wave of nostalgia. Therefore, by telling the stories of their own in a specific tone, they recreate a person’s life and force those people to feel the way they felt during those time they were staying with the person who is now lying in the coffin.
Furthermore, language can be used to give others’ courage and power to move on. Take my own experience as an example. During the time my mother just passed away, l totally indulged in the deep grief and could not concentrate on my study. Then I turned to a psychologist for assistance. I thought there should be a lot of explicit directions l could follow. However, during the whole process, what she asked me to do is to talk about my own experience-the days l spent with my mother. During the whole therapeutic process, she just kept talking with me and nothing else. I used up a whole box of paper towels and, to my surprise, I felt better after that. During the conversation we had, when l kept recalling all the details and obtaining feedback from the psychologist, l was fixing myself by myself. Through the long reminiscence and communication, I provide myself with strength and support which l always neglected during those days.
To sum up, not only language itself has its own strength to link the emotions among people, but it also can provide power for others to heal themselves.
