Walls We Climb

Walls We Climb: Language, Systems, and the Space Between Understanding

Corey W. Harland

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The biggest key to success for me is holding up your walls until they are about to crumble, then passing the ball to the people you trust the most. If you are unsure they can handle all your weight, pass it to the Creator—however you understand that—or simply to whom it may concern. Pray when you need to. Ask forgiveness for what you know, what you do not know, and for everything in between.

Who knows if it even matters how you pray. I just believe.

I ask for forgiveness, for blessings to all, and for the strength to live up to the people who shaped me—prophets, elders, storytellers, heroes, parents, friends, mentors, and even strangers. Every person I have met has taught me something. That is how I understand life.

Because life is not just what we carry. It is when we realize we cannot carry it alone.

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After medically retiring as a Staff Sergeant, I had to face something I was not trained for—stillness. I had lived a life built on movement, discipline, structure. I had goals: to lead, to command, to master. I had dreams of connecting the world through culture, linguistics, and STEM.

Then life stepped in.

Degrees unfinished. Paths redirected. Plans paused.

And for the first time, I had to stop building forward and start rebuilding inward.

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That is when I realized something that now sits at the center of everything I write:

“It is only as hard as it is perceived to be.”

Not because things are easy—but because perception shapes the system we are operating inside.

And systems, when misunderstood, create friction that feels like failure.

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This is where language enters the conversation.

Language is not just communication. It is a system of perception. (Whorf)

And when that system is misaligned with how we actually live, it creates distance between understanding and use. Arabic shows this clearly.

Modern Standard Arabic exists as a formal structure, while dialects exist as lived language. The system is strong—arguably one of the most logically structured languages in the world, built on root systems that allow meaning to be derived predictively.

But the strength of the system is not the issue.

The separation is.

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Instead of functioning like English—where a standard anchors dialects—Arabic often functions as a divided system. Formal language is treated as something separate from everyday speech, rather than something that flows through it.

This creates a learning gap.

Not because the language is too hard.

But because it is taught as if it exists in parts, rather than as a whole.

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My approach was simple, and I believed in it enough to build a thesis around it:

Teach language the way people actually understand life.

Start with:

* Object

* Time

* Action

Build everything from there.

Not just vocabulary—but story.

Because language is not memorization. It is interaction.

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If you want to understand a language, you must understand how different people exist within it:

* A child

* A teenager

* A young adult

* A professional

Each speaks differently. Each understands differently. So why do we teach language as if there is only one correct version?

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This is where systems fail people. They aim for correctness before understanding.

But understanding comes from movement, not perfection.

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I taught through stories.

Simple ones.

“The grumbly bear hurt the koala bear’s feelings.”

Then we build.

Then we correct.

Then we expand.

Then we resolve.

Because communication is not about being right. It is about being understood.

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And this is where most systems break down—not just in language, but everywhere.

They do not account for what is incomplete.

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There is a difference between something being wrong and something being incomplete.

A wrong idea can be corrected.

—An incomplete one can function.

And that is far more dangerous.

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Systems do not recognize incompleteness.

They optimize what is given. (Simon)

So if the definition is partial, the result will be precise—but limited. This is not failure. This is consistency without awareness.

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That is why no single system is enough.

Language must be taught across forms.

Understanding must be built across perspectives.

You must:

* translate

* compare

* rebuild

Again and again.

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This is why I believe in what I call root understanding.

Not just memorizing language—but understanding what builds it.

Not just speaking—but knowing how meaning moves.

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Because if you can move between systems, you are no longer trapped inside one.

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And that extends beyond language.

It extends into life.

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At some point, I had to become a white belt again.

In everything.

I had to ask for help.

I had to stop leading and start listening.

I had to say:

“Do you got me now?”

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That moment changed everything. Because systems do not just exist in language.

They exist in pride.

In independence.

In identity.

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And sometimes, the strongest thing you can do is step out of the system you built for yourself.

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Now I live differently.

I build when I can.

I rest when I need.

I learn constantly.

I try to understand more than I try to be right.

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Because I still believe what I set out to prove:

That through understanding war, culture, language, and thoughts, we can learn to coexist.

Not because we are the same.

But because we understand differently.

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Language is not the barrier.

Misalignment is.

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If we teach people how to move between systems instead of locking them into one, we do more than educate.

We connect.

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And maybe—just maybe—

we build a world where understanding is not required to survive…

but chosen to grow.

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Works Cited

Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Penguin Books, 2006.

Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.

McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. MIT Press, 1994.

Simon, Herbert A. Administrative Behavior. Free Press, 1997.

Whorf, Benjamin Lee. Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings. MIT Press, 1956.