PERMISSION GRANTED
Tuesday Sept. 18, 2018
Do you remember childhood, when we needed permission to do things?
Everybody knows this cliché:
~ it is easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission
We live in an enlightened age of empowerment – of empowering ourselves, of self-actualization that might make Maslow blush … but that’s it, is it not? We give ourselves permission for ‘anything we want’ whether or not it is good for us.
I’ve had two personal and slightly embarrassing examples of this hit home for me recently. The first is my grocery list. In the last couple of years I’ve been focused on a more deliberate approach to diet – lots of vegetables, less meat, more fish, more vegetables, fruit, no dairy, no bread, more vegetables – you get this picture. To this end I’ve created a quick-to-tick format of grocery list. It saves me time and gives me healthy reminders when I’m shopping and when I’m preparing to shop, so I asked myself as I had some cheese and bread the other day – why do I have cheese, milk and bread on my ‘pre-printed’ list? It’s as if I’m giving myself permission to stray from my resolve. And who will step in and scold me for not getting permission? To whom do I beg forgiveness?
As I was writing this – yes, I amended my grocery list.
Adding insult to injury, I saw a cartoon that hit really too close to home; it showed two people at a booth in a restaurant, one of them with an open laptop computer … saying, “ I write a daily blog complaining I don’t have time to write my novel …”
Ouch!
Reader feedback:
I HUGGED A FEMINIST ICON ONCE
Great story! Was once kissed by Hemingway's grandson, and am watching his great granddaughter grow up in pictures. Does bring a thrill to link to history, JB, Edmonton, AB
