TEDxYSE - Reba Elliott - Why Words Matter

Reba Elliott is the founder of Lifting Voices and this is her talk from TEDxYSE:Unleashing Young Social Entrepreneurs hosted by Ashoka's Youth Venture on November 13th, 2010 in Washington, DC.

Reba Elliott is the founder and executive director of Lifting Voices, a grassroots, nonprofit organization with a vision that the words of young people will heal, inspire, and instruct families, communities, and people in power. Lifting Voices develops the capability for abstract thinking among young people in disadvantaged areas of Washington, and ensures their thinking is valued by creating markets for youth-produced projects in the community. Learn more at http://liftingvoices.org/

What is TEDx?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self- organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event.

The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

More information is at http://www.ted.com and http://www.ted.com/tedx

This video was shot by Blue Sky Films, edited by Nicole Van Slyke

Hi!

Audience: Hi!

So my name is Reba Elliott

and I do work for an organization
called Lifting Voices.

Our mission is to help young people
discover and share their voices

in order to grow, find joy
and accomplish change.

My work is sharing the power of words

and I really know that
words have big power.

Because, look at this!

Here I am, standing, talking

and there you are,
hundreds and hundreds of you,

listening!

We've got something going here already

and we did it through nothing more
than a couple of simple spoken words.

My day-to-day work is with young people

and I find that the child's mentality

which is fun and open and explorative

can be really useful.

So I'd like to borrow
something from that mentality

and play a game with you.

Yeah!
(Laughter)

This game is called "Let's make a story".

We're going to make
a story together, you and I.

And our story is about a word.

Any word.

A word that means something to you.

A word you say all the time.

Puppies?

Ice-cream?

Your favourite word.

Think about it!

Got something?

Good.

Your word represents language.

Every word you've ever spoken
or heard, or read, or written.

Every word you've ever
whispered or shouted.

It's all there in your mind right now.

Or we're going to give it a story.

See what it can do.

Every story has a journey

and ours is no different.

Our journey begins... at the beginning!

Where language first begins.

Babies.

That's my son.
(Audience: aaahhh)

I know. Perfect reaction. Yeah.
(Laughter)

So his name's August
and he's 2 years old.

And like any parent can tell you,

watching language develop
in a child is miraculous.

When August was first born
all he could do was mew.

Like a little cat.

Just "mew".
(Laughter)

And now 2 short years later,

he has this amazing ability
to name his world.

He has a name for things he sees

and a name for things he does.

And what's even more amazing

is that he can put
those words together

to make thing happen.

He can say...

My son has a very deep voice
for a 2-year-old.

(Laughter)

So he'll say:

"Mama, throw the blue ball!"
(Laughter)

And the ball will be thrown.

Here it goes!
(Laughter)

By naming his world,
he begins to transcend it.

If he can get the right words
in the right order,

he can make things happen.

I don't know what my son's
favourite word will be when he grows up,

but I can predict that his mind,

which is richly familiar
with this practice of making things

happen through words,

is going be a good home for it.

I know another toddler.

I work for this toddler.

Her name is Erica.

And like my son she's 2.

But they are different in a big way

because this 2-year-old cannot speak.

She can make sounds.

She can groan.

I think it's really important
that you know

there's no physical cause
for her inability to speak.

She doesn't have a cognitive disorder,

she doesn't have an oral disorder.

This little girl can't speak

because no one cares
about her enough

to speak to her or listen to her.

She can't name her world

because no one cared about
her enough to name it for her.

Unlike my son,

she can't make things happen
through her words.

I remember I was reading
a book with her one day

and I looked at her
and this light came on in her eyes.

I remember it was a book
about a little baby getting dressed.

And I looked at Erica

and this huge smile broke over her face

and she looked up at me and said:

"Shoe!"

And now every time I see her

she runs to me and she pulls me down

and she points at my shoes
and she points at her shoes

and she says: "Shoe!"
(Laughter)

"Shoe-shoe-shoe-shoe-shoe!"
(Laughter)

And that's all.

Think about your word.

Let's give your word a story.

In which toddler
would you like its journey to begin?

2 children.

2 little humans.

In which mouth will your word thrive?

We all have times when we're speechless.

Times when a notion just hits us

and we can't transfer
that impulse to language.

When I look at August or I look at Erica,

the word "love" doesn't really suffice.

And in terrible times too, words fail us.

I've experienced violence,
drug addiction...

What I've gotta tell you?

Fear?

Despair?

It really doesn't cover it.

And I'm sure the same is true for you.

If you think about the most wonderful
and the bleakest times in your life,

you'll be really hard pressed
to put names to them.

Even your favourite word.

The one that we're so tenderly guiding
through this little journey.

It's just a label.

It's just a sign post.

Pointing the way to your
ineffable experience

of puppies or ice-cream, or whatever.

So why do we do it?

Why do we put labels to experience?

Some people say that
language is an instinct.

That all of us, me standing here,
you sitting there,

big smart adults, we're all
just a step above my toddler.

We put names to things
to transcend them.

We put the names in the sentences
and we make the sentences go.

Love is a many-splendored thing.

We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

We make worlds happen through words.

It's a big deal

and it's a big part of our human story.

Here's a big word:

civilization.

Civilization in general
was carried on the backs of our words.

Think of our forebears.

There they are.

Inventing irrigation,

developing systems of exchange,

creating new and much easier
modes of survival.

Out of nothing.

Out of the simple raw materials
of their landscapes and their minds.

Words were there.

Words allowed those ideas
to be shared efficiently.

And even more importantly,

words allowed those ideas
to be shared abstractly.

Think about it.

Our forebears would have had
a really hard time pantomiming

annual,

flood,

or

currency.

Without words, for the pure ideas
that grow to our world,

we can't manipulate them.

We can't make them
into something brighter and better.

This is the neighbourhood
where Erica lives.

This neighbourhood is located 3 miles...

it's 1 hour's walk from
where we're standing.

Her neighbourhood is our neighbourhood.

1/3 of the adults in DC
are functionally illiterate.

How will they tell us their ideas?

How will they tell us about
the next irrigation or currency?

We need their help to shape the ideas
that will transform our world.

Somewhere in your life
there's a young person.

Maybe it's your child,

maybe it's a kid down a block.

Take time today to think about

how you want your word
to live in that child.

Make sure he can say shoe

and ball, and love.

Make sure he can help us
shape our human story.

Thank you.

(Applause)