Only Words?

So today, in one of my English class’ small group discussions, my TA was talking with us, and I say “with” us because he actually talks with us and not to us or at us, which I love. But we were talking about rhetoric, and this might bore you but I find it fascinating so I apologize. Anyways, talking about rhetoric and how we subconsciously use it in every day life. And he got me heated up for a bit because he described what he calls the “God Bless America” argument. His statement was that when we say God Bless America, we are saying bless us and bless us first (pretty much). And my first reaction to this was whoa buddy I do not say please, God bless us and us only or us first, I’m just asking to bless us because this is my country and we are one, but I want God to bless everyone just the same. To which he replied, well then why say it at all? If we want God to bless everyone then why do we even need to say it at all, or to say God bless America? Because we still want God to bless us first. I understood what he was saying but still didn’t buy it. Then he put it in a less confrontational subject/non religious (for most): sports. Someone in the group said well it’s the same as saying “Go Cougs”, it’s not that we want the other team to die or something, we just want the cougs to win above all else (even when they don’t, which is usually). And in that sense, we don’t say “I love the Cougs when they’re winning but I hate them when they’re losing” instead of just “Go Cougs” because that would leave a different implication, instead of implying that I’m with the cougs through and through, I’m only with them when they win. And that’s just not Cougar pride. Why am I talking about this you might ask, I just sometimes don’t realize what an impact the words you can say (or don’t say) have. No I’m not saying boo to UNC, Arizona, UCLA, USC, and all of the other schools when I say “Go Cougs”, but rhetorically I’m implying that. Language is so weird how we adapt to certain contexts depending on society. Like the middle finger for example. To us it means F*** you, whereas to Italy it means a form of hello. My TA told us this story of a company from Italy who shipped Christmas plates to be sold in the US and then center of the plate was a picture of Santa with two big middle fingers up in the air. Personally, I’d love a Christmas plate like that. Can you imagine as you finish your Christmas meal and slowly realize that it’s Santa flipping you off? Milk and/or food would definitely come out of my nose, I’d be laughing so hard. It is just so interesting how language, and body language, and so many different concepts are perceived differently from culture to culture. Like for instance, if you saw two people yelling f*** you at each other in public, you might be concerned, maybe not, but I would be. But then say instead one of those people was wearing a Cougar shirt and one was wearing a Husky shirt and you saw the same situation, you wouldn’t think anything of it. You might join in, or just laugh. You adapt to these concepts to the point where they become normal. It might seem strange to you at first, or just strange to other people, but again, you adapt. You just rarely consciously think of the things you’re not saying when you say what you say. But subconsciously we think about what we say, we think about what we don’t say, we think about what we want to say, and we think about what we won’t say. And then there are those people with no filters…well we won’t get into that.

In other news: today I got a free PB&J sandwich that the school gives out every Wednesday or something. Maybe it’s only once a month, I’m not really sure. Anyways, it was a free, tasty sandwich. I walked back to lounge on the couch in the cub and my friend, Joey, asked how it was. My response: it’s tasty but the peanut butter keeps sticking to the roof of my mouth. To which she replied, “First world problems”. And we both laughed. But then I thought about it. I complain so much. All the time. “I’m tired. I’m cold. I hate homework. I have so many tests coming up. I’m hung over. Why is it only Monday? I hate this weather.” You get the idea. Now I’ve said this before to people, we all have our own problems. And most of the time, there is someone out there that has way bigger, way worse problems than you. But regardless of those bigger problems out there, your own problems are as big to you as they feel because they directly affect you. It doesn’t mean we should ignore other’s problems or bigger problems. We shouldn’t belittle our own problems, though, because they are ours. We can’t and shouldn’t compare them to other people’s because its how that problem feels to you. Now, keeping that in mind, I do have my own problems, but I also just complain about stupid things or things out of my control like weather. And then I said to Joseph and Mags, do you realize how hard it would be to go just even a day without complaining? They agreed it would be difficult. So I decided that tomorrow I’m claiming it as my own National No-Complaining Day, in spite of all of these National _____ days. Whoever else thinks they’re up for the challenge, be my guest. I really wish I had my “No Whining” t-shirt here in Pullman. Shoot. I know it will be tough, I know. I think I need to come up with some sort of incentive. A negative one. I don’t deserve any reward if I can do it. But I should come up with something so that the number of times I complain I have to do something that many times. I’ll think of something. It’s gonna be hard and I’ll have to constantly be thinking about it or else I’ll slip. So we shall see how that turns out. I’ll let y’all know.

Oh. By the way, if you’re a fan of country, check out Jason Aldean’s newest album release called “Night Train” UH-mazing. Especially the song “Night Train”. He is quite the artist. I’ve literally listened to it so many times. That’ll be playing throughout our apartment for the next two weeks or so. So, so good. Okay I’m off. Sorry about the rant about English. I can’t help it. But just know the impact and power that both your words and your silence have. Have a good rest of the day/night/whatever time it is.