Why I Seek to Be Understood

Beyond it being what most humans desire most of all.

People who don’t understand me devalue me. Because it feels scary not to understand someone, which makes people feel insecure. Insecure people often look to devalue those who make them feel insecure. To feel more secure.

Knowing this, I have devoted my life to being easy to understand. I write at a fourth- or fifth-grade level to be comprehensible to most despite knowing lots of big words. Big words are off-putting to many people. So are long complicated sentences and unwieldy paragraphs. I have dumbed down my language year after year to help more people feel comfortable. In hopes they might not devalue me because they feel insecure.

I have also spent the past decade raising small children. Who I wanted to encourage to speak. Not intimidate into silence. Likewise influencing me to make my language easy to understand.

I also speak Spanish and communic…