When Words Are Unnecessary

Words are powerful. They are strewn across the pages of the histories they have changed. And yet we all know what a thousand of them is worth -- a picture. And in many cases -- a sound. The sights and sounds of our days are often the most powerful prompts to our lives...!

The funny thing is that for all the courses in composition & literature, there are virtually none in sight & sound. A good reason to take a short one right here and now. Because the sights and sounds of our America are so much a part of our national consciousness. A consciousness that any effective leader must understand and use in times of challenge like now.

Lets start with the sights....

Beginning in the 19th century, the earliest sights to soak into the mass culture were the illustrations of Currier & Ives. By the millions, these images filled the newspapers and hung on the living room walls of the nation. Simple, affectionate images of pastoral America, family affection, children at play, puppies in frolic, heroes in battle, and all that we wanted to believe we were.

Beginning in the 20th century the sentimentally gifted illustrator Norman Rockwell took the torch, as his imaginings of Americana filled magazine covers that reached tens of millions. Again the images were an America of good and decent parents, children, grandpas, wise old folks, families at holidays, children in mischief and all those moments of magic that could be imagined in the life of this special corner of the world known as America.

Throughout that century our illustrators and photographers continued to freeze America in time with worth-a-thousand -words scenes that have seared their way into the deepest recesses of our national consciousness. The Gibson Girl...the Flapper...the Petty Girl....Coca-Cola's Santa....Morton's salt girl....Rosie the Riveter....Uncle Sam Wants You...the flag raised over Iwo Jima....the bobby-soxer....Mauldin's weeping-Lincoln at the death of JFK....Marilyn Monroe's flying skirt....the brooding James Dean...the scowling Nixon, the saxaphone-playing Clinton, Bush on his aircraft carrier, and handcuffed CEOs.

Each of these images and a thousand more come together in our national memory like a jigsaw that portrays this great and imperfect land of of ours. Each and everyone without a single word!

Then there are the sounds...

Throughout our wordy history, certain sounds have emerged and filtered into the ethers to compose a symphony of our America. Notes that play in our minds, instantly triggering thoughts and feelings that we 300 million share together. Understand together. Respond to together.

You can hear them with me. The pipes playing the "Yankee Doodle Dandy" that speaks of our Revolution.... the strains of "Across the Wide Missouri" which conjure up the endless wagon trains spreading westard across 19th century America....the Cavalry bugle that charged across that same west....the plinky piano of a Scott Joplin tune re-creating the riverboat-age in America...the brassy beat of "The Charleston" from the roaring twenties....the "Rock Around the Clock" thunder of the new age of Rock...the theme from "Rocky" which trumpets the American swagger of beating the odds....the theme from "The Godfather" which haunts our fascination with evil....the solemn notes of Taps which speak to our soul of all those who have died in our America.

And so it is that those of us who use words are humbled by those of you who speak in sights and sounds. Each embedding themselves so deeply into each of our psyches, that they can instantaneously bind and bond us. And could there be a better or more necessary time....?