It was an extraordinary few weeks to have lived through. The causes have never been fully revealed, although many have subsequently attempted to attribute blame, and no end of conspiracy theories continue to circulate – as though lessons still have not been learned. All I can do is offer an account of the way it seemed to me.
It was in the middle of the Era of Unpleasantness, a time of destruction, disease and self-interest, which had befallen humankind. There were some attempts to mitigate the worst cruelties to people and the natural world but these were often crushed and were never likely to change completely the way things were.
My first inkling was when my books seemed to have turned into blank paper. How very strange, and particularly so when my computer files seemed to be doing the same thing. When I tried to call friends, the phone merely gave out mechanical beeps. Neighbours waved but couldn’t talk. It seemed as though words had gone missing, as though a modern-day Pied Piper had lured them into a mountain-side and trapped them there.
Political leaders, national and international, wanting to seem to be in charge, appeared on our screens reduced to miming. It turned out that they, and the thespian world, were amongst the first to attempt to sign up for Universal Credit (in the UK) or file for unemployment pay (in the US) having had livelihoods jeopardised by the new wordlessness. No chance there – the on-screen forms were blank.
In this new world, many forms of communication became important. British and International sign languages proved vital, and the deaf and disabled attained a new status as teachers and interpreters. Morse code and semaphore had more limited applications. Mime artists and expressive arts gained fresh currency and were attempted by many.
It was a time of great peace as most of us continued with our jobs or attended to our gardens, sharing any edible produce in the locality and smiling our thanks. Time was liberated by a lack of TV and social media. Trains and ‘planes were severely hampered by an inability to produce time tables. Anyway, the desire to travel to meet others was much reduced by the general inability to communicate.
This was a time for thinking deeply without the need to communicate every inane idea that flitted through the mind. It was a time for touching and holding hands; a time for looking and seeing and sympathizing; a time for remembering times past and stories once heard.
And most of us coped quite well with the absence of words. We communicated with people away from what had once seemed a Tower of Babel of languages and religious beliefs in the town. It helped many to learn the irreducibility of humankind and our commonality. We learned to love in better ways.
Once words began to creep back, and this was a slow process, they made many of us value them well and not waste them.
