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:

<i>civilization</i>.

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

<i>annual</i>,

<i>flood</i>,

or

<i>currency</i>.

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 <i>irrigation</i> or <i>currency</i>?

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 <i>shoe</i>

and <i>ball</i>, and <i>love</i>.

Make sure he can help us 
shape our human story.

Thank you.

(Applause)