What if we lived our life knowing there’s not a single word we say that doesn’t matter. Note the lack of a question mark; this is most assuredly statement material. Profound! And if you knew this, would it influence the words to exit your lips? I dislike conversations where “it doesn’t matter” is used flippantly, in a disregard type of manner. To me, it’s basically saying I don’t care what you think or say. At the least, it’s extremely hurtful. At most, damaging.
Lifting people up should be a common goal; however, it seems this isn’t so. We waste a lot of time tearing others (or ourselves) down rather than being a part of growth. If you lose your why, you will lose your way. Full disclosure: I didn’t come up with the previous line on my own.
This world is a crazy one, but there’s not one reason to be unkind. A few nights, maybe weeks, ago, my little love bug was sitting on the couch. She asked me to lay my head in her lap so she could run her fingers through my hair and massage my head. This was at the end of the day I’d given her a foot rub. (She tried to return the favor but I’m too ticklish; a calamity of errors!) Her kind gesture really got me thinking: how often do we dismiss another’s kindness? All those doors you’ve held open, all the polite words you’ve uttered, all the cars you’ve yielded to on the highway. Small examples of something huge.
A few (more) nights ago, I snatched up my phone as it began to ring and yelled “Stop calling me!” to whomever was on the line. An equally angry woman yelled back “You stop calling me, lady! You called me at 10:27 this morning!” As I prepared my retort, she hung up on me. I realize yelling at someone sounds nothing like me. Full story: for days in a row, I kept receiving phone calls from numbers with the same area code and prefix as my own. Never answering, the voicemails would be exactly 22 seconds long with a social security scam schpill. I blocked the numbers but it continued with a final digit difference. I’d had enough. But after what the angry lady said, it dawned on me she was most likely receiving calls from my number with the same garbage message. And, of course, my little child overheard this debacle. Ugh. Not my finest moment. Even after my explanation, she calmly stated I must call back and apologize. Which I did. The other woman didn’t answer; I don’t blame her.
Recently I was told “You never have an opinion. And, if you do, you don’t share it.” Partially paraphrased but the gist is there. If it had been appropriate at the moment, I would have laughed and maybe not stopped. My opinions are everywhere! Hello! Do you read this blog?! I am opinionated to a degree; I just choose not to argue. A discussion is one thing, but if the other parties are only able to express their opinion in loud, overbearing voices, well, I don’t have anything to say. End of story.
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I ask you –
What are you opinionated about?
Do you have a flippant phrase?
Recount a time you were not proud of your phone behavior.
Running on Fumes 