Breathe
By Edmée Pardo
Reading, as we have already said, is an interpretation of what is written. To enunciate without understanding is not reading. We also know that there are many types of languages and nomenclatures: the language of words, the language of music, mathematics, chemistry, dance, each with its code of meaning, its phrasing... And in a marvelous, elastic and synthetic art of Word software, they can all be put into a beautiful Excel. A table of columns and rows that facilitates the arrangement of data and information. A summary that at a glance can be decoded and explained. Aha.
I am sending you the Excel I made, a friend of mine tells me, with whom I am doing the strategic planning of a course. I open the file and see squares, colors, bold numbers, abbreviations, all very nice and tidy. I pronounce out loud numbers and letters: I don't understand. I'm surprised I don't understand because according to me, I do speak Excel. Or so I think. Now that I write it down, when my mom died, I gave my siblings the last accounts of her money. I managed her bank account and once the expenses were settled, I had to divide the rest. I separated the sheets by subject and then made a final account. I took a long time, checked and checked. When my brothers opened it, they told me the same thing: "Can you explain it to us? As I have never worked in a company I understood that it was not an Excel with executive format, but wasn't it very clear? We sent each other a whatsapp to zoom in to elucidate the content. It has also happened to me that the accountant of the university where I work sends me an Excel to report the accounting of my salary. Same thing: yellow lines, numbers, percentages. We need a phone call for me to know what is the logic of its layout and formulas.
