Greetings from the WCS Library.  Books surround me here as I write this.  There are words, words and more words.  Since I love reading words, sometimes I try to imagine how they are put together so skillfully by any author.   Words fascinate me and where they came from fascinates me even more. Last week I read about a proficient “word scientist,” an American writer known as an “aphorist.”  I had to check that specific occupation out a couple of times! This writer named Cooley Madson just loved words and greatly debated the weight of their meaning.  It seems obvious that words can cause people great joy and hope or great sadness and mistrust (Isn’t that a current theme in our world, right now).  As a writer, he felt that his goal in life was to write witty aphorisms, a “terse, quick, memorable statement of a general truth or principle.  Here are a few he came up with:

“Reading Gives us someplace to go, when we have to stay where we are.”  (Very timely!)

“Creativity makes a leap, then it looks to see where it is.”

Here is another one: “There are three different rules for reading, thinking, and for talking.  Writing blends all three of them.”  

I just thought I would share the words of this aphorist.  The greatest example we have of words that bring life are those from Jesus Christ.  His words in the Bible are full of life, hope, and joy.  Especially in this challenging time, and any time, may we bring others words that bring life.

                                                                                                                                                Marion Dieleman, Librarian