A dear friend told me I am responsible for writing her obituary.
I took it in the spirit it was given and promised to write about the time she tried to save the donkey bomb from the men who had shoved dynamite up its equine butt.
She thanked me for not making her the ass of the story and I promised to provide more color by writing about her fame as the writer of Mad Libs for people with dementia.
You might see this as sick and twisted but we took it in stride because the conversation that preceded it was peppered with middle age malaise.
The kind where you ask how things got to be where they are and discuss whether it is better or worse than you think.
Beyonce Can’t Dance & 69 Stories Your Facebook Friends Lie About
George is serenading me as I wonder if current events are going to lead to my unfriending or being unfriended by some Facebook friends.
If it happens it will be because we cannot find common ground and because some of you lack the ability to think for yourselves.
I can argue both sides of the current conflict, cite chapter and verse and dig into the nitty gritty with the sort of detail that our instant gratification society chooses not to engage in.
That doesn’t mean I consider myself to be an expert but it is hard to have a real discussion with people who refuse to use fact and or decide only on side is culpable.
And so I ask if I am engaged in conversation or shouting? Am I listening to what is being said providing a smart response or calling people names.
I can’t say unequivocally that I am but that doesn’t mean I am going to listen to someone lie and suggest they’re entitled to murder friends and family either.
So I am pulling out and thinking. Time to catch my breath and go a different way, see if there is a better way to engage.
****
Some of you asked what is real here and what…is not.
If you need my help deciphering that you probably need more help than I can give.
I probably shouldn’t be surprised by the strong reactions people have about current events n0t because of the particular parties but because 0f Beyonce.
Try going online and saying Beyonce isn’t as talented as people give her credit for or that she is a hair past mediocre and then wait for the wave of hate.
People go nuts.
They’ll call you names and engage in crazy personal attacks.
Not everyone, no, not all but enough that you wonder what the hell is wrong with people.
Why can’t you say that she isn’t as good as Michael Jackson and that sometimes her dancing looks like she needs to run for the bathroom.
It is just an opinion.
The thing is, having an opinion that differs from others is frowned upon by some people now.
You’re either a Sneetch with a star or a Sneetch without…except when you are not either.
