Listening

My grandson, at about 20 months, may be having some language delay problems. His mother is on top of it, so I know all will be well (good?), but it has me thinking about language and how it is both precious and dangerous. Language holds us together as family, as a society, as whatever community to which we may belong. But it also can wound or be misunderstood. My reaction, at least to spoken language, is to over explain if people do not seem to get what I have said. That my be the teacher in me. I believe I may also overdo it when I attempt to be neutral and cater to both sides of an issue. This is all the more ironic since I know, as a writing teacher, that language we put on a page can be the best of learning tools. I have no solution or conclusion--just the observations.