Do you ever find that words fail you?

I do.

For example, how do you sum up 2020? 

We all celebrated New Year’s Eve last year without a concept of the chaos that would be thrown in our path.

But there it was. Coronavirus, wildfires, and civil unrest invaded our homes, interrupted our conversations at work, at birthdays, Easter, and Thanksgiving dinners – that we had on Zoom, not in person.

How do we keep a dialogue going when there are so many discordant voices in the choir? There’s a limitation of language that strangles all of us at times, but it doesn’t have to be that way…

Don’t be held back by the limitation of language

Did you find that your 2021 New Year’s resolutions were a little less lofty?

In 2020 they might have been:

• Learn a new language
• Read a book every two weeks
• Stick to a vegetarian diet

In 2021 they were probably:

• Shower daily
• Stop ordering take-out
• Find out what the smell is in the front hall closet.

For me, 2021 represented an opportunity to start writing again. But it was hard. There were so many distractions – diversions.

But I arrived at the realization that I needed to write…I needed to keep talking to people because when people go silent, the noise gets worse.

In an era of slogans and sales pitches, messages can be seriously misinterpreted, suppressing meaningful dialogue.

Here’s what I mean.

• Defund the police 

 

This is a quick way of saying look at the funding of the police forces’ militarization and use of those funds differently within the force. This means social workers, de-escalation training, and community building rather than outright law enforcement. 

But as a slogan, it became “anti-police,” and people tuned out and stopped talking.

• Medicare for all 

 

The words are shorthand for providing healthcare for anyone who wants it in a civil society. But the people calling for it don’t wish for an inefficient, bureaucratic healthcare system that bankrupts the government. They want a level of care that matches their social conscience.

When it’s on a placard in front of a hospital, it invokes visions of throwing money at a broken healthcare system and never reaping the rewards of a healthier, more vibrant society.

• Black Lives Matter 

The phrase doesn’t mean only black lives matter or have moral value. It means that until these lives have equal moral value at the hands and in the minds of those that don’t identify as black, we need to fix a broken system.  

But the knee-jerk reaction to the BLM slogan is “All Lives Matter,”…and that’s where the conversation ends.

• Pro-Life 

 

It doesn’t represent the lives of races with the same moral values, let alone a fetus, newborn, child, adolescent, young adult, adult, or the elderly. 

Nor is there a consistency between being anti-abortion, anti-murder, and pro-death penalty. They all involve claiming a life. How do you discern the difference?

The Pro-Life movement automatically polarizes because it’s the antithesis of Pro-Choice. The debate becomes binary. Very little is learned because there isn’t a middle ground.

Meaningful dialogue can’t be a sound-byte

And there’s the nub of the problem.

The limitation of language in today’s social media world means we don’t have room for more words.

Ideas are batted around in little morsels. We’re slow to think and quick to judge…because there simply isn’t time. The next blast of information is coming down the pipe any minute now. We don’t have time to read the lines, never mind between them…

What does this mean for social justice? It means that advocates have to work even harder to captivate their readers and listeners.

You have to choose your words very carefully so that they’re not incendiary… preferably, they’re inspiring and motivating.

How do you inspire someone who’s intimidated by the task of making a workplace inclusive and diverse when they’re fed a constant diet of polarizing messages?

You don’t talk about the problems. You illuminate the solutions. The problems are apparent. It’s knowing where to start in solving them that can be elusive.

Solutions aren’t instant

I dyed my hair green in January. It took a couple of hours.

Cosmetic changes can happen in the blink of an eye. 

Meaningful social change takes time…and long conversations.

You can’t microwave discrimination for three minutes and pull out a diverse workplace. The plans have to go in the slow cooker, and everyone has to take a turn stirring the pot.

We’re in a time of isolation – and more than a little stress – but that’s an excellent opportunity to rethink how we address social and workplace inequity. The coronavirus has sent us all to our rooms for an extended time-out…what are you doing with your time?

I decided on a word to define my goals for 2021. Unstoppable.

I am unstoppable.

I’m going to breathe. And learn. I’m going to take on my school career’s challenges and grab my difficulties at work with both hands and give them a shake.

I know that I can make a difference with my words. And you can, too. If you’d like help finding the right ones…words that create an inclusive environment, contact me. I’d love to have a conversation with you.

Chance are, you’re unstoppable, too.

Enjoyed this article? Here are three more to help you:

 

Embracing social change by exposing your arse. Seriously

Are expectations of others unfair? Think ‘present’ vs ‘now’

Do we value the importance of listening in our dialogue?