Archive for November, 2008

haunted recipe image guide toll grid graze inimical hearse labored mailbox mingle dreamer cow

Using carefully chosen words can be like tiptoeing through a haunted house; you never know when one of your supposedly safe choices will come back as a spectre rattling chains of ill-conceived meaning. It’s then that you realize that there is no recipe to follow, no map or image to guide you, and no matter what, you’re forced to pay a toll to interpretation in the hope of salvaging some intended bit of nuance. You try to recover, but it’s too late; you’ve fallen off the communication grid to graze in the inimical meadow of “But…” and “What I meant was..” and “I didn’t mean to”. It’s like driving a hearse to Dairy Queen, it ruins the experience for everyone involved. And had you labored less on those carefully chosen words, your mental mailbox might have been filled with ideas that didn’t arrive postage due. Ideas that were free to mingle with the dreamer, the lover, and the saint in you. No matter. Just because you’re in the meadow doesn’t mean you have to act like a cow. Why not just lie down, listen to the wind and the birds, and smell the honeysuckle while you can.

pmd – 11/6/2008

“People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote – a very different thing.” – Walter H. Judd