And Power of Words
My daughter’s friend told a story: her dad was interviewing a teen boy for a job at a paddleboard shop. It was the kid’s first interview. He was nervous. So when he was asked why he wanted to work there, he replied, “I just love waterboarding.”
Her dad paused, clearly amused as the young man recognized his mistake. “Well, I suspect our customers won’t like it, though.”
I laughed when I heard the story.
A few weeks later, my daughter was cooking pasta. She was impatiently staring at the not-yet-bubbling pot of water. She huffed in frustration. “How long does this thing take to load?”
I laughed when I heard her.
The humour of these two vignettes comes from the power of words—or in these cases, the unexpected use of words in the wrong context.
It was a reminder that, yes, story is important, and yes, characters are important, and yes, plot is important, but so, too are the actual tools of our trade: words. We create art from words. We create effects from words. We create emotions from words. Words are our palette; let’s make the world bright and vibrant.
And then let’s tuck those very moments of colour we experience in our daily lives into our back pockets so we can then share them with the world.