One Act Play

[Andre Cramblit]

A One-act Play
Language lives as a spirit inside a people... all of whom are joined  
by a common understanding, a "group knowledge" if you will. One day,  
a herald comes with a trumpet and a parchment. He says that from that  
day forth, all the people may speak only from the left side of their  
brains... for it has been determined that this is the side closest to  
"god" and therefore the "best" . . .

And language can no longer move about, for it has lost its feet, and  
it can no longer feel, for it has lost its hands and its heart,  
language can no longer sound happy or sad, no longer offer solace for  
woe or companionship in joy and gladness, for it has lost its voice.  
Language can now only run in circles, for it has too much energy for  
its task, and it can only consider "disembodied" information, and has  
no way of validating it, for it has lost its "body of knowledge". And  
language becomes lonely and dispirited. It lives alone in the minds  
of those who are left, unable to reach its companions. And having  
lost its connection with others, it begins to lose its connection  
with itself, for it has lost its balance and its joy. ... And alone,  
it dies. (Kalish, 2002)
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