Words

On long, dull road trips, we sometimes play a game with country music.  Each of us picks a word common to country songs, such as beer, honky-tonk, bar, pick-up, girl, etc.  Points, along with hoots and hollers are awarded every time a person's word is mentioned.  It's not a particularly exciting game, but we do have some good laughs as we hear the same words re-hashed and served up in a new tune.  All you country music lovers out there, I like Taylor Swift.  I do.

I just finished reading Markus Zusack's book, "The Book Thief", which is right up there in my top ten books of all time.  Maybe in the top three. They're wrestling right now for position. Talk about evocative writing, a thrilling, tragic plot and some of the most unique and thoroughly real characters you'll ever meet in a book.

Here are a few quotes...

"It's a small story really, about, among other things: 

* A girl 
* Some words 
* An accordionist 
* Some fanatical Germans 
* A Jewish fist fighter 
* And quite a lot of thievery" 
______________


"Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness." 
______________


"A DEFINITION NOT FOUND 
IN THE DICTIONARY 
Not leaving: an act of trust and love, 
often deciphered by children" 


_______________


"Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day. " 


_______________



"...he stood around the bed and watched the man die-- a safe merge from life to death.  The light in the window was gray and orange, the color of summer's skin, and his uncle appeared relieved when his breathing disappeared completely.
"When death captures me," the boy vowed, "he will feel my fist on his face."
_________________

 In The Book Thief, one of the major themes of the book is how Hitler used and manipulated words to evoke terror and hatred.  Those words seeped in and festered,  and lead to the action of the annihilation of six million Jews.

To contrast, Martin Luther King, Jr. used words to lift the veil and expose the fracturing of the nation. He used words to spur love and courage and risk.  Through words and fury, his dream became our dream. Can I tell you how happy I was when I heard they were changing one of MLK Jr.'s quotes on the memorial to be his exact words, rather than a paraphrase?

All of our words, however chosen and arranged, written or spoken, have power.  We can make them count, or throw them to the wind or to the gutter.


One last quote from my new hero, Markus.  

"I like that every page in every book can have a gem on it. It's probably what I love most about writing--that words can be used in a way that's like a child playing in a sandpit, rearranging things, swapping them around. They're the best moments in a day of writing -- when an image appears that you didn't know would be there when you started work in the morning."