A Word on Wednesday: Present

When the words present and presentation are brought to mind, images of light shows, power points, lectures, and other performances surface.

However, the verb present (pronounced pri-zent) means to furnish or endow, to bring, to give, to hand over, to introduce, to come to show. In the purest sense of the word, presenting is simply a notion of bringing ideas into someone’s presence. 

Present, used as a verb, is a combination of Old French and Medieval Latin influence. The word marries the ideas of offering and presently.

Writing is merely a presentation. Words are committed to page as an offering to a reader.

The work one does is what is presented to the commonwealth. Indeed, the involuntary act of living is a presentation. One’s life can be noted, bookmarked, remarked upon, remembered, ignored, or bypassed.