“C’est le ton qui fait la musique”. My parents used to say this every now and then when I was young.
And I never understood why.
The sentence thus is imprinted and hard-wired in my brain. And I grew to hate when they said that.
But recently, this specific sentence enters my mind more often. And I even use it in conversations.
As with so much in life, over the years you discover that there are levels to things, language, communication, and truths.
There’s a deep truth hidden in “C’est le ton qui fait la musique”.
Me talking to AI/ChatGPT over the last couple of months, made me realize this.
On the one hand, the tone doesn’t make any difference to any message. And I realized this because AI doesn’t care how I say stuff to it. When it understands, it replies. And it doesn’t ‘get’ me, I correct it, and it reconsiders.
Humans are different.
For humans, the tone is very important. And that’s because we’re an emotional and storytelling species. When we see emotion, hear emotion, smell emotion (yes, we can smell tears for example), or feel emotion, our brain reacts instinctively and, creates a story instantly.
And that story determines what we’re going to do. Even if that action is completely irrational.
So tone, handle it with care. Just as with your message. Because it’s the tone that makes the music.