Scale...a word, a five-letter word

Scale, relative size, we often take for granted. The size of things can be greater - or lesser - than expected. A shift in perspective, whether visual or conceptual, changes how we perceive life. Scale is a way to quantify and synthesize reality. Take for instance, the size of an animal.

Recently a discovery brought attention to a previously unknown animal, a rodent of impossible size, considering the Mesozoic era. It was 100 times larger than the other rodent sized animals. Visualize a huge badger. Said badger-mammal thrived in Gondwana, the southern supercontinent that included Africa, South America, India, Australia, and Antarctica. What if our rodent friend showed up today, maybe cruising the streets of San Francisco, or on a cruise ship docked in the bay. Would that change your reality? Scale makes a difference.

When George Orwell, a linguist, wrote the novel 1984, which in the opinion of some we are currently living, he dealt with scale also. The size of words and concepts. Orwell believed in the power of the written word…and in the detriment of its reduction. In the novel 1984 language became a target, a way to control the masses. To form complex thoughts required complex phrases. What better way to truncate society than by restricting language to short word chains, repetitive phrases, a grunt for communication?

Oops, fast forward to today. We have something on a microscopic scale that has brought societies to their knees, economies to sub-ground level, and people’s communication to words wafting through cloth barriers. Scale does matter. Scale influences consensual reality.

My hope is literature is not reduced to a text, or a blog for that matter. Animals of inordinate size do not start roaming the streets, and like the Grinch, we all grow hearts of huge scale to express our love of humanity and the brave people who are working to stabilize our world and protect us. Carry on!