Responsible Acknowledgment VS silence...

I hope Gabrielle Giffords and all those recovering from the violence of January 8, 2011 achieve a full recovery. The death of eight persons is a tragedy that may only make sense if some attempts are made to prevent the next one.

The deaths and injuries that ripped away the peace and calm of a gathering in Arizona might well never have happened had one person replied to a question from another. In certain situations the most provocative act is to ignore some one. Recently I have noticed a trend of dismissing persons. Such dismissal and out right ignoring may, too often, serve to bury problems in a way that leads to festering resentments and rising hatred.

Q:"What is government if words have no meaning?"

A:...???

Problem how do you answer a question that does not exist? As hard as I try I find the question unanswerable as spoken. But any response would have been better in this situation than silence.

Being ignored or discounted has harmful effects on the most stable among us. Imagine the effect it may have on a person on the edge of sanity. I am not trying to put blame on a victim here I am saying it is better to acknowledge everyone who has made the effort to speak.

"The government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar,"

Here we have another example of a group of words that just don't work as placed. I can not digest this group of words so what do I do with it? I get the feeling this was the strategy of a person who needs control and absolute advantage in conversation but who lacks the skill to achieve it. Such broken yet seemingly clear logic serves to unbalance an opponent.

Another possibility that occurs to me is that this person simply wants some one to say: "you are making no sense." Perhaps the use of broken logic is an attempt to get an honest response pointing out the flaw and instead most people will try to be polite or cant detect the problem in the phrase as spoken.

In any case, I believe we have a responsibility to respond to each other. Perhaps communication is nothing when those who hear do not care and those who care do not speak. How do you feel when you say "hello" and you are obviously heard but no one responds?