SLOW LEARNER(S)
Saturday Nov. 4, 2017
Our tech/consumer society allows us to point-click our way to whatever we want or need – whatever impulse we google …
Apps, screens – so much easier to choose. Multiple-choice tests work in everything except people where ‘all of the above’ or ‘none of the above’ is not an acceptable or useful answer.
“Hi, how are you?”
“Tell me about yourself, please?”
Questions we ask start a process – why we ask them is going to determine if that conversation is of value or just time filler. If we want people in our lives in some way, they’ll often let us. If not, there is probably a good reason. It might be them. Might be us. Most likely it is how one party treated the other.
What causes us to chase one opportunity while at the same time ‘kicking cans down the road’ on other perhaps equally or more worthy ones?
Most likely that won’t be a project or opportunity – it will be a person.
Do we kick people down the road?
I don’t mean with our boots on – then they would surely know.
But they’ll know, they aren’t stupid – they’ll notice we don’t call, don’t visit, don’t invite them – not like we used to. And people drift. Not as slowly as tectonic plates, but sometimes it seems painfully slow.
When we react off-script, others don’t know what to say, how to deal with us, because we’ve stepped away from what was expected.
How often do we discard people without knowing them, pass on by without exploring them carefully, learning what makes them tick, how we can help or exploring how they can help/instruct/inform us?
Reader feedback:
YEARNING FOR APREZ-TRUMP
I enjoy your daily MUSINGS and find you to be creative writer who conveys deep meaning in a spare and unique style. Thanks for taking the time and sharing with us. I must say that today’s column was way off the mark from my perspective. The nexus between JFK and President Trump is hard to understand and the truth is that President Trump is far more popular that the media elites will admit. He has been sent to Washington, DC to “undo” and dismantle the excesses of government and the corrosive effects of political correctness. JFK was a young idealist who fit the mood of the nation perfectly; Trump is not much different, although he channels frustration instead of optimism. JFK, nor anyone else, has no need to apologize for things he cannot control (…”too rich” …”too male” …) and he did not run as a progressive. America is still a center-right country ideologically, and we vote for men and women who reflect the mood of the majority. That mood is often misrepresented but President Trump deserves the respect of the office that compassionate conservatives like myself always afforded President Obama, even though I think he governed poorly and reshaped America in a way that made us weaker on almost all fronts, That’s my feedback. I was thinking about asking to be removed from your mailing list but thought better of that – offense should not so easily be taken. Hope all is well with you. Cheers!, PB, Glen Allen, Virginia
