The Beauty of Language

by Yza Siy

One of the most striking things that was said for me in the lecture last Thursday was how “ What’s important is the talking to and not just the about”. It is not all about knowledge and information but the acknowledgement talking to/ talking with another person brings forth.

I think this can be related to our past lecture on the concept of the Broken World that was presented by Gabriel Marcel. One of his central observations about life and experience in general is that we are living in this “Broken World”. Day in day out, we find ourselves too preoccupied with the daily grind that life brings. We tend to focus on our goals, our home works, tests or anything that distracts us reflecting and being-with-others.  We become too focused on what’s being said rather than to whom and how we say things.


The language that we began to master is a language that forgets what it means to have respect for the other. We forget that the beauty of language is that it allows us to understand not just the present but also something of the past and possibly future of the person we are talking to. Language is something intimate. As what was said in class, it is something capable of bringing out reality and I think this is something we all experience. We all meet different types of people and this particular someone tells us something. Whatever this person shared speaks of his past, possibly how this person will act in the future and therefore something of the present. With the simple act of talking with another person we are able to know the other in three ways and this experience plays as important role as to who we become. After all, who we are is a sum of all the people we’ve met and became acquainted with.

Equivalence

by Patrick Cruz

I remember one particular time during enrolment for this incoming semester. It happened when I had a lot of things to fix and the sun was directly above me. Just as any other person crossing on the bridge at that time, I was bad-tempered and hurrying in order to finish the tasks early.  But suddenly, there was one child vendor who offered for me to buy turon. Just as I had turned my head back and I was about to say my most common response “no, thank you,” there I saw his innocent face with an angelic smile. He even added, “sige na po, hindi pa po kasi kamina nakakain e.” “How could I refuse to such offer?”, I said to myself. So, I bought two from him. Since I was full at that time and knowing he’s also hungry, then, I give these to him. There, he smiled again and said “Salamat po!”

It was completely an event for me, an encounter with another person. It might have been a surprise, or it might have actually been there all the time and it just took some refreshed minds in order to see this in a different perspective. For me, this is what Dr. Garcia calls random act of kindness—that even when no one is looking at you, you actually made that choice to enter into another person’s life. It is the moment of extension of a hand that could’ve renewed that child vendor’s hope. It is a time when one allows the poor to feel rich, the hungry to feel full, the desperate to feel hopeful and everyone to feel loved.