LISTENING CAN BE REVEALING

I had the exasperating time yesterday to be in an ALL too familiar situation where I had to wait for other people’s availability, then to be told my appointment will have to be rescheduled.

Anger does NOT begin to describe my reaction during such occasions!!!

With that being said, I’ve been told by the more mature side of my marriage that I’ve made considerable progress over the last year…in limiting collateral damage.

Whether there’s an ounce of truth to that remark, one needs an impartial third party.

What I can tell you, and through great effort on my part, LISTENING holds the key.

By that I mean when you’re in one of interminable situations where you’re at the mercy of other people, and you’ve been placed in a “holding pen,” my counsel is: take three deep breaths, and just kick back and wait for the show to commence.

Those within the ‘pen’ are ALWAYS searching for an ear; then one ear mutates into several ears and countless mouths…ever noticed that progression??!

I’ve ALWAYS hated being in such a spot…NOT anymore [I lie!].

With just the slightest nod of your head, like you’re interested [when you’re NOT], the verbal avalanche of human thought, ignorance and blatant insanity rushes over you – the show is underway.

Folks, we’re on the cusp of civil war.

Once the conversation got beyond COVID – its restrictions – mixed messaging – and past, current and possible future mandates, what people [male and female] really want to talk ? about is: massive voter fraud; right-to-vote; the legitimate right to storm the Capitol; threatening the life of our vice president and elected lawmakers; and, the call to arms by groups like the Oath Keepers in the disruption of the peaceful transfer of power making complete sense to many walking amongst us.

When I jumped at the chance to ask what my entertainment thought of Stewart Rhodes, it was immediately apparent that NO one knew who he was – what I got was “he’s just another lousy politician” to “he’ll never get elected.”

Wanting to remain entertained for as long as possible, I went with the nod of the head…with NO one asking “who is he?”

ALL of this because Trump wants to be a dictator, and he is pathologically incapable of admitting he lost.

Aunts and uncles, Boy Orange‘s audience is many!!!!!!!!!

There is clearly a willingness to accept/use violence to overturn a free and fair election.

Being on the alert, and demonstrating concern, seems like something foreign now, almost like from another time and place; Re’Trump’licans in Congress are NOT, and based on the current reality, won’t push back hard against their own radical members [and their former president] who sound very much – almost daily now – like fascists.

Just watching/listening to our little group, it became instantly self-fulfilling that agitated people on Twitter are spewing their way toward “civil war” and digesting such rubbish, while a diminishing number of us just want to get on with our lives.

It’s tough to bear in mind: such exaggeration is self-propelling – the less we feed it the more it goes away.