Clear and concise.

That was the mantra of my Technical Writing professor a couple of years ago. An admirable sentiment, really, but only in very limited situations. Lord knows I'm certainly not clear and concise, and nor, thankfully, are writers (authors, anyway; I'm sure actual technical writers are pretty clear and concise). If Stephen King were clear and concise, he'd have one novel out, and it would consist of one word: "Boo!". Beethoven's 9th would be about 30 seconds long, and progressive rock would not exist.

I think one should be clear and concise in one's thoughts, but not necessarily in one's communication. For example, one could sum up the Christian faith in just a couple of words: "Love everyone.", but it would take a lot more than that to get the idea across in its entirety.

If your thoughts are short and sweet, then it's easier to communicate them, I believe. Like now, for instance, my thoughts are muddled and confused, and I couldn't think of how to say what I wanted to write -- which is, incidentally, how I got started on this topic. If people were to consciously try to arrange their thoughts on a given subject into some semblance of order, I think a lot of confusion could be avoided. If people could really get there point across -- I mean really get it into someone else's head, then people would be a lot more empathetic to another person's cause or plight. Obviously some people lack the capacity for empathy and compassion, but I think better communication could really help out a few existing situations and keep some others from existing in the first place.

But I digress. Although, it's not like I really had a main point to begin with.

...Oh yeah, clear and concise. Yeah, that's definitely me. *Ahem*