The Poverty of Language

I am going to perhaps surprise a few people on here with my reflection on the central premise of this prompt. It is in its own small way emblematic of the way that our language has been steadily reduced in effectiveness and meaning over the last couple of decades. George Orwell saw this in 1948 when he reversed the digits of the year and created the dystopia of 1984. If you control the language you control the people.

Joy is derived from the Latin word rejoice, and in current parlance means a feeling of great happiness or pleasure. How can something you do every day be a source of joy if either of the previous two definitions are our starting point? A habit can bring, contentment, it can bring a feeling of security, it can bring quiet pleasure, but it cannot bring a feeling of joy. Our language has become a diet of extremes. We are told that everything is the best, the worst, the most important, the most amazing, unlike anything else. It’s exhausting! We need to get back to the days where simplicity and subtlety were valued, where people carried on quiet contented lives that fulfilled their needs. Instead, we are told to seek emotional highs at all times and not be satisfied with a level headed approach to life. I am just as susceptible to this emotional arms race as everyone else, pouring over social media, news, apps etc looking for my next hit of dopamine. By constantly chasing those extremes we are far more controllable by those in power who can manipulate us with joy, anger, fear and hope, all of the cheapened emotions to which we are prey.

So, take comfort in your habits, take pleasure in them, but do not try to take joy. Be happy with moderation and ignore those trying to tell you to reach for the extremes.