Inventing My Own Words
I went hiking yesterday with my good friend Selah, and it occurred to us that the English language does not have a word to describe the serene state of ignoring the minutiae in the name of living for the moment. It also dawned on me that the only words "invented" by our generation are slang terms like 'extra' which encourage the degradation of our lovely language and promote conformity at the expense of individuality. I think we have forgotten how to express ourselves properly. Instead, we use Snapchat and Instagram, among other social media platforms, to see others' lifestyles and mimic them. We have become a culture of self-obsessed, copy-and-paste clones who are largely devoid of independent thought. And that has to change. William Shakespeare viewed art and language as a mirror and explored this idea throughout many of his works. This quote from his play Coriolanus is a perfect example: "Let them look in the mirror which I hold up to them, a mirro