My daughter asked a great question last week.
We were in the audience of a big assembly hall, listening to the introduction of the speaker we had come to see.
She asked, “Why is the sign language interpreter so much more interesting than the person who is talking right now?”
I don’t know a lot about the craft of sign language interpretation, but I know what we were experiencing that day. The person at the podium was reading the introduction from notes in a monotone, and her focus on the paper she held kept her from connecting with the room at all.
The interpreter was dynamic. Her whole body encompassed her message. She was intent on delivering it to the audience who needed it.
Isn’t that always the job?