The 26 characters

I'm not referring to fictional characters, but the 26 letters of the alphabet. I read an article some weeks ago (wish I could remember where) about how it was so hard to create a story, a world, people, emotions, events, etc., using mere words. It mentioned a famous writer, I want to say it was Toni Morrison, who expressed it more definitively: "using just the 26 letters of the alphabet."
     Astonishing when you think about it. It reminds me of  ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, where a few pictures and symbols were able to do the same thing: tell a story, describe a culture, recount history. I can't imagine how they could do that without all the millions of written words we use today. But if you consider that all our millions of words are created with just 26 symbols, it's a whole different concept.
     It seems incredible when I think about how the same letters can be used to make many different words that have totally different meanings: thought, though, through, trough, thorough, tough. And that's one example out of hundreds. Most people who are not linguists, or whatever they are called, never see the magic in this. Even  writers often take words for granted when we are using them to create our masterworks.
     I don't know that there's any benefit to considering what I see as the magic of letters and words, but it does add a dimension of awe to the act of writing. And we can all use a little magic.

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