Explain what you think of her first sentence.
Maria Popova – www.brainpickings.org
“Every act of communication is an act of tremendous courage in which we give ourselves over to two parallel possibilities: the possibility of planting into another mind a seed sprouted in ours and watching it blossom into a breathtaking flower of mutual understanding; and the possibility of being wholly misunderstood, reduced to a withering weed. Candor and clarity go a long way in fertilizing the soil, but in the end, there is always a degree of unpredictability in the climate of communication — even the warmest intention can be met with frost. Yet something impels us to hold these possibilities in both hands and go on surrendering to the beauty and terror of conversation, that ancient and abiding human gift. And the most magical thing, the most sacred thing, is that whichever the outcome, we end up having transformed one another in this vulnerable-making process of speaking and listening.”
Questions
- Explain what you think of her first sentence.
- What do you learn from reading that sentence about structure and word selection?
- Why does “candor and clarity” go a long way in writing or speaking do you think?
- What metaphors does she use to get her point across?
- What makes language both a beauty and a terror?
- What does she mean by language is sacred and magical?
- Explain your thoughts about this quotation.
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