“The systematic looting of language can be recognized by the tendency of its users to forgo its nuanced, complex, mid-wifery properties for menace and subjugation. Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence…”~Toni Morrison, 1993 Nobel Lecture in Literature

(This segment of Creative Flexibility and Annihilated Lives is published in partnership with Voices Compassion Education.)

Like many authors I dive headlong almost every day into a torrential flow of words sparkling with possibilities. I then work to extract from that linguistic flow a collective of sounds, imagery, ideas, and entire compositions capable of offering relevant reflections of the world experienced both inside and outside my own head. Such a mindful exercise in disciplined creative passion tends to focus my thoughts more on striking a balance between the unyielding clarity of prose and the seductive allusiveness of poetry than on the demands of managing a public image.

Because I give myself so wholly to the furious embrace of language on a regular basis, I rarely classify myself as a specific kind of writer. It is usually editors or readers who decide on my behalf whether I am more welcome in their world as an essayist, fiction-writer, historian, poet, or another breed of fever-driven scribbler. They provide the context in which a meeting of our minds may occur and share notes on specific facets of what it means to be in this world.

The differences between the various literary forms are obvious enough but it is not unusual for one genre, during a heated word-session, to flow at will into another. It happens much the way a dancing couple or individual might boogy-bounce nonstop from one song to the next––the rhythm calls and the soul answers.

An editor or reader also often decides which of the subjects I address––social learning, politics, spirituality, literature, sexuality, history, or something else–– best suits me, for them, as a writer. This quality of aesthetic malleability is not unprecedented in literature. It in fact shines brilliantly among the aspects that distinguish the pens of many authors celebrated around the globe. Salman Rushdie comes to mind, as does Margaret Atwood, Ben Okri, Herta Müeller, and Alice Walker.

One interesting question this poses for the 21st century is the following: how might humanity transfer such fluid adaptability from the clairvoyance of polished pages to the hearts and minds of those stuck in the belief that annihilation of life is the only solution to the more difficult dilemmas in life?

Twisted out of Context

Imagine if those rulers inclined to slaughter their own countrymen year after year chose instead to exercise greater flexibility in perspectives and freed themselves from the need to govern with such an iron-gloved fist. Consider the possible results of those biological families where a father or mother did not deem it necessary to degrade a child’s individual personality with physical or emotional cruelty. What else might a young man or woman become––as opposed to shredded flesh and splattered DNA–– if instead of strapping bombs to their torsos they ignited greater faith within their hearts and shined the light of that love for the full span of a full productive life?   

Or imagine this staggering idea: what kind of conversations might have gotten underway in communities worldwide if instead of kidnapping almost 300

Chibok schoolgirls in Nigeria in April 2014 (as well as many other girls and boys elsewhere before and since then) members of Boko Haram had chosen to promote their cause by building a new school superior to the one the students already inhabited? It is true social media would have missed out on the viral hash tag #BringBackOurGirls. But other equally-striking phrases could have taken its place: 

 
As it was, the choice Boko Haram made destroyed the previous diplomatic efforts of individuals like Hillary Clinton and organizations such as the United Nations to refrain from attaching the polarizing label of “terrorists” to the group. It also prompted Muslims around the world to note how the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau , extracted choice passages from the Holy Quran to justify its inhumane campaign and declare their actions, at most, a betrayal of modern Islam rather than a true observance of it.

Their actions were––and as of this writing more than 100 days later remain––parallel to those individuals and organizations in American history who employed specific Biblical scripture to justify the

enslavement of people of African descent, or to withhold the basic human rights of women of any race. In both cases, a text provided to help humanity develop its greater spiritual potential was twisted out of context.  The original intent of sacred radiant wisdom gifted to the world to help people make their way past the ignorance and fear that too often mangle it, was instead served up as a feast of propaganda. Rather than nourishing minds with inspiration, it poisoned hearts with hatred, denial, and rage.   

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 by Aberjhani