Reason #288: A Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures
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I have always been a word-oriented person. I love to read, novels, self-help, poetry, news, etc. A picture is a static image of realty and can be quite enjoyable. However, reality is anything but static, which is why “pictures” are not really, well, real. We see photos of these beautiful people plastered on signs and in magazines…but while there is an art to making someone look almost perfect, that representation of reality is at best fictitious. Note the scandal whenever a ”paparazzi” from a ”reputable” rag like the National Inquirer is able to capture a famous celebrity in less than flattering conditions. It seems these days young people are so bombarded with pictures, on television, the internet, and other media outlets, that the written word doesn’t receive its just due. In turn, they are given a false impression of reality. There is no fuller or more poignant description of North America than Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, or Latin America as Neruda’s Canto General. Yet, we seem to have become all too accustomed to relying only on images to convey meaning that those static representations of reality fall far short of conveying. A picture can never capture the grandeur of Machu Picchu as the words of Neruda, in Spanish or English. A picture cannot capture the fluidness of life the way that words only can. It has often been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I believe that phrase must have been coined by Kodak. I would rather believe that it is the other way around….that a word is worth a thousand pictures.
Tags: Canto General, Leaves of Grass, pablo neruda, Walt Whitman