In the movie My Fair Lady, the said lady (in training to speak properly) was restricted to only two subjects in casual conversation, to prevent her atrocious Cockney accent from appearing at an inappropriate moment. The topics were the weather and people’s health. She was to say such carefully memorized things as “the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.” As to the subject of health, she managed to cause a controversy anyway, bringing up an ailing aunt who, in a fit of sudden strength, bit through a spoonful of gin meant to help cure her sickness.
I have been unfortunate enough to have caused a stir on my own this past week which may have cost me an old friend, though in my defense I merely dug deeper into a topic by posing a question, and it was to somebody else and not her. She then came back at me for no real reason that I can fathom, and said that I was being a bully. Folks who know me will dispute that, and normally that would include her, so the accusation was truly out of the blue. I regret that we may never get down to the true nature of her upset, but I have placed the return volley on her side of the net, and it may well succumb to the elements before it is ever dealt with. A sad turn of events. I feel sorry for the forgotten tennis ball.
If we all stuck to small talk, we would never get to the bottom of anything. A well handled discussion of any topic can bring about resolution or, at least, compromise, if we agree to disagree. Being censored or accused without proper backing only causes more dischord.
My blog is designed to provide some observations and ask questions, so if I must restrict myself to things which can be discovered by watching the newscast or asking how one is feeling today, I would have no purpose in posting at all.
The toughest issues are ones we sometimes feel we can’t talk about. We still must discuss them. I will try in the future to be less subject to scrutiny while maintaining a standard of writing which may bring you to think and examine further into issues beyond the weather and health.
Me? It’s sunny out, and I have sore feet.
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