Making Each One Count

Today I dabble in the depths of my own hypocrisy, perhaps even more than usual. Sometimes we waste so many words to convey so little. This very web site is evidence to the prolific nature of my own writings. Whether or not folks want or need to hear it, I certainly have a great deal to say, arguably entirely too much at times. I was, however, at a conference some time ago where the speaker spent a long time (and a great many words) exhorting us to be far more frugal with our speech and writing. He wasn’t implying that we should be silent by any means, rather offering the observation that we simply say too much. I, for one, am clearly guilty on this point. Like so many of us, I blather on and on until the real point I wanted to make is lost entirely in the supporting arguments intended to prop it up. Often the better course would be that of succinctly and elegantly making our point and leaving it at that. I believe it was Mark Twain who once said that "No one was ever saved after the first ten minutes of a sermon." When we are nervous we use too many words. When we are angry we almost always use too many words. The next three weeks of presidential campaigning promise entirely too many words. Therefore, lest I further abuse the literary economy I struggle here to convey, let me encourage all of us to choose our words carefully and make each one count.

Making Each One Count
There is no shortage of words in me
I can spout them night and day
But volume does not equal value
Indeed, may cloak what we would say
There is strength found in economy
Choosing just the right words, and few
So much is lost in a dissertation
When a single sentence would do
Make each syllable count if you’re able
Choosing only the choicest words
Lest your message drown within itself
And go utterly unheard
By Frank Carpenter ©