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Archaic

dictionary with letter A

Archaic (adj): very old or old-fashioned

I am of the belief that human beings do need things in their lives that are “fashioned.”

Yes–well-constructed, organized, purposeful, sensitive, gentle, aware and involved.

Without these “fashioned” virtues, we begin to rely on our own understanding and become a prideful lot, not worthy of interaction.

Unfortunately, no one ever uses the word “fashioned” without adding the prefix “old.” So at the whim of any cynical individual lies the weapon to disembowel great ideas, emotions and courtesy.

We also can attack art because it dares to reflect a stream of intelligence from a former time.

Certainly music cannot contain any beat, lyric or sentiment that was ever expressed before, lest we become slaves to our history instead of innovators in techno-pop.

Here’s my criterion for determining whether to use something that is well-fashioned: has it survived the past, still works today and has all the signs of being universal for the future? If the answer is yes, it is not archaic, just underused.

So I am not going to be discourteous just because the tendency leans in that direction.

I’m not going to be surly in order to appear focused and stubbornly irreversible.

I’m not going to reject the beauty of poetry because a generation of numbskulls have deemed it corny.

And I’m certainly not going to follow the bigotries of my time which have been conquered–often by the blood of martyrs.

Before you call something archaic and throw it in the trash-heap labeled “old-fashioned,” just make sure we can actually live without it.

 

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Thank you for enjoying Words from Dic(tionary) —  J.R. Practix

Absaroka Range

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Absaroka Range: a range of the Rocky Mountains in Montana and Wyoming.

There are folks who would insist that the problem lies in making mountains out of molehills. But equally as foolish is the present practice of making molehills out of mountains.

There are so many beautiful things happening in our world which are relegated to obscurity because they cannot bust through the lens of the 24-hour news cycle, that these projects and people have to be dismissed as irrelevant in order to justify the snubbing.

Can you imagine if you were the Absaroka Range? You are part of the Rockies, and if someone happens to be in Montana, waking up on a beautiful morning, you certainly exceed the status of molehill. But the Rockies get all the publicity; get written up in the Triple-A Travel Guide, and intoned in songs. No, you are stuck in Montana–considered a mere extension of the magnitude and beauty of your alleged superiors to the south.

Remarking on mountains being made out of molehills is really just an attempt to get everybody to calm down and not be overly focused on issues which we have decided to stick on the back burner, if not heave on the trash heap. But I tell you–perhaps the greatest danger in our generation is turning mountains into molehills, pretending that huge piles of important stuff really isn’t quite as significant as it appears to be.

These babies up in Montana are mountains. They may not get the press of the Rockies. They may be in a state that doesn’t have enough electoral votes to interest a fourth party candidate–but they’re still mountains. They still have reason to be proud. And when you stand next to them, they are just as intimidating to climb.

So be careful listening to the common drivel of our time. It won’t necessarily survive the decade in which it is spouted. Instead, do yourself a favor and before you dismiss that Absaroka Range up in Montana, go stand next to it and let its beauty and power sweep over your soul.