It’s like drops from a headache just evaporated and a weight has been lifted because somebody spoke in your native tongue.  You feel connected to someone or something and for that brief moment, you know you are not alone.  I believe that most of us want to connect.  We need it and when we don’t have it, we seek it and it creates polarization.  We are not citizens of the black and white brigade.  We are all shades of gray and words help us  find the slivers of light that fill the chasms of darkness in the abyss.  

I think that is why I was drawn to sales and marketing early in my career and why I was so successful at it.  Words are taken for granted.  Most people communicate from their lexicon, but in order to really reach someone, you have to bridge that gap between your world and theirs.  I mean, if a tree falls in the woods, right?  Who gives a shit?  If I didn’t hear it, it didn’t make a sound.  I think the responsibility is on the person speaking to reach the person listening, not the other way around.  Professional people forget that most of us don’t speak Doctor or Lawyer or Contractor.  And most of us don’t ask questions because we don’t know the questions to ask.   We all do it.  We live in this bubble inside a subset of language and it’s easy to grow frustrated when someone doesn’t understand.  

That’s why I love sales.  When I learn a new professional language and I figure out how to interpret and communicate it to someone in their language, you see a light go on and their shoulder muscles sigh.  And it’s not because the product or service helps them.  Well, it’s not the only reason.  It’s also because they appreciate you.  They feel connected to you.  It’s almost as good as hitting the game winning shot.  Almost.  I’m too old to remember if I ever did that in high school, but I tell myself I did.  I’ve imagined it a lot and it feels great.

I grew up with a father with PTSD from Vietnam.  I spent most of my childhood scared, trying to understand   what I could say to make his anger dissipate.  Words matter.  They can navigate a minefield.  They can help someone off the ledge.  Because we’ve all been there, on the ledge, wondering about the great disappointments of life, curious if you are strong enough to overcome them.  You are.  We all are.  We just don’t always know it.  I hope that my words connect.  I hope that my words can help someone in a moment of need.  Even if that someone is me.  

There is nothing greater than when words are grouped together so artistically they elicit a visceral, emotional, guttural response and you know that what you just heard or read is as true as anything you have ever known.