(Un)real things

I am always amazed at how people respond to symbols and traditions.  They are two sides of the same coin.  They both represent the values people have.  People forget the two are not the values themselves.  Flags and flowers are the usual examples given.  A flag is not the same as the country.  It stands for the country.  Flowers are not the same as a person's loving actions.  They stand for loving actions.

A really good other example is the language people speak.  When that first happened, there was no writing.  That was invented later.  Language was just language in the beginning.  But, at some point people invented symbols for language so that they could store the language and transmit it to others.  Thus, people in civilization centers around the globe invented symbols for the languages they spoke.  Some invented letters for separate sounds, such as t and d and n to show where the tip of the tongue is placed and whether one wanted to use the vocal cords, use air only, or use the nasal passage.  Others made symbols for ideas.  Still others would put sounds together and show a word by circling it with an oval.  These inventions were not the languages themselves, but representations of the language.

I have a friend who puts pictures from a website called Traces of Texas on his Facebook.  The site contains many, many pictures of Texas during the period of the 1930s and 1940s.  He is a nostalgic friend and muses about the good values of the early days of his life.  So, he puts symbols up for the values he cherished that are different from today.  Since the values today are so different, he gets stuck in a time warp and responds to symbols from the past.

I have another friend who is really caught up in the idea of family.  It's really a facade, however, because the family she came from and the family she raised are dysfunctional, more than average.  So, she has adopted the symbols for family - pictures of everyone, singly and in groups, on walls all around her house - to help her realize the ideals that family represent.

Don't get me wrong.  I like the occasional symbol.  They can be very meaningful.  But, as a way of life, I want to deal in the real events, real values, real relationships, and real jobs.