A clear day. All the people are walking around.
Germans, Americans, French. Indians, Spaniards, Greeks.
They talk to each other. They talk past each other.
But on this clear day, something is different.
People stop. They look at each other. Looking up, gazing at the sky.
As if the clear, transparent sky covers the body of the people,
wraps itself around the people like a chiffon dress.
A first step with the dress, then another.
They can still walk.
A first breath with the dress, then another.
They can still breathe.
People stay the same, but their words become clearer.
Language becomes transparent.
They look at each other. Shining eyes, a smile on each face.
They see it. They feel it. They speak it.
One language. One understanding.
As clear as the sky.
One scientist talks to another scientist.
Every single finger forms words. Every single look understands.
No language barrier. Better understanding. Faster exchange. Faster scientific progress.
A vegetarian woman orders a meal in a restaurant.
Before, fear of having accidentally ordered a meat dish.
But now: She forms words with her hands, shows the waitress what she wants to eat.
No problems. She enjoys her dinner.
A solo trip to a foreign land.
Her fear of misunderstanding is gone. No misunderstanding in reading the street signs. No problems finding the street to her new home.
It is Morse code that she reads and understands everywhere in the world.
To listen, to hear, to truly hear.
Understanding, comprehending, sympathizing.
They all understand. Without misunderstanding, without doubt.
They all embrace it.
This one language. Common words. Common facial expressions and gestures.
Common communication.
‘Yes!’ they shout. ‘It works!’
But what happens in the end? Who are the people? Where is the individuality?
Cultural differences, where have they gone?
What happened to each one of them?
Interpreters, they lose their jobs.
Untranslatable phrases like the Finnish ‘Kalsärikännit,’ the Russian ‘Pochemuchka,’ or the Japanese ‘Bakkushan.’
No more original language. No more sense in those phrases. The human brains learn less, analyze less, remember less.
Their brains become smaller and smaller.
The people learn less, experience less. They forget to express themselves.
Their thinking is declining. Human knowledge becomes smaller and smaller.
They look at each other. Sad eyes, a tear in each face.
They don’t know how to express themselves.
They don’t know how to explain it with their signs.
The only thing they know is what they want back.
They tear off the dress from their body.
They push the chiffon language away.
A day with misunderstandings, difference, forms again.
