ARE YOU ONE OF THE WORLD'S CODE-BREAKERS?

A disparate legion of dogged cryptographers helped the American Navy in the defining battle of Midway in1942, and British command turn the tide of U-Boat battle in the Atlantic by 1943.

But let it be said that all throughout history -- in peace as well as war -- everyone of us is speaking in code. The unique code by which we happen to think of our world and convey our thoughts about it. What codes? Let us count the ways, for they are in everyday use even without our being fully aware we are using them.

Consider some examples; then consider why outsiders have such trouble translating them.

There is that language peculiar to regulations-bound government bureaucrats...that sometimes stilted jargon known as educationese... hospital talk...lawyer talk...clergy talk...theatre talk...Hollywood talk...Vegas talk...farmer talk...kids talk. Lets be honest. The very same word can be used by each but conveying their own particular meaning. Try for instance simple words like "proper" and you start to get the point.

Seven billion of us on the same planet with very much the same anatomy and needs. Oh but how complicated the task of communicating at those deeper levels where alone we can authentically relate with one another. And one of these complications is our habitual use of our favorite codes. The irony here is that we spend a lifetime acquiring these codes -- by who we are and what we do -- then end up mostly preaching-to-the-choir.

Democrats and Republicans...Christians and Muslims....Blacks and Whites... nation and nation...rappers and balladeers...and damn near everybody in a Democracy or on Facebook.

What then to do? There is this classic first-rule in debate: "Define your terms." Good place to start, because unless we go in with the same understanding of terms like "proper," "facts," "evidence," and"success", we're always going to come out shaking our head uttering those same disastrous words: "They just don't get it!"

Funny how it usually takes a disaster to overcome the disaster of those disastrous closing words.