WhenSevereisNotEnough
Introduction
Whendescribingsomething,weoftenusecomparativelanguagetoemphasizeitsqualities.Forexample,hotcanbecomehotter,anddifficultcanbecomemoredifficult.Butwhathappenswhentheseverityofasituationsurpassesthelimitationsoflanguage?
TheLimitsofSevere
Severeisawordthatisoftenusedtodescribeextremesituations.Fromweatherpatternstomedicalconditions,itisusedtoconveytheseriousnessofasituation.However,severecanonlygosofar.Whenaneventorsituationbecomesmorethansevere,howdowecommunicateitsgravity?
TaketherecentwildfiresinAustraliaasanexample.Theywerenotjustsevere,theywerecatastrophic.Theuseofthewordseveresimplydoesnotdojusticetothescaleofdestructionandlossoflifethatoccurred.Ashumans,wehaveatendencytouselanguagetotryandunderstandandconveyourexperiences.Butwheneventslikethisoccur,wearefacedwiththelimitationsofourlanguage.
WhenSevereBecomesNormalized
Anotherproblemwithusingcomparativelanguageisthatitcanbecomenormalized.Ifweconstantlyusewordslikesevereandextremetodescribesituations,theycanlosetheirimpactandsignificance.Webecomedesensitizedtotheirmeaningandfailtotrulycomprehendthegravityofwhatishappening.
Forexample,theissueofclimatechangehasbeendescribedusingtermslikesevereandextremeforyears.Andyet,wearestillfailingtotakeadequateaction.Thisisbecausethelanguageweusehasbecomenormalized,andwearenolongerabletofullygrasptheseverityofthesituation.
Conclusion
Languageisapowerfultool,butithasitslimitations.Whenweencountersituationsthatsurpasstheseverityofourlanguage,wemustfindnewwaystocommunicateandunderstandthem.Thisrequiresustostepoutsideofourlinguisticcomfortzonesandconfrontthelimitationsofourownunderstanding.Onlythencanwebegintograspthetruenatureoftheseeventsandtakeactiontoaddressthem.
