So…

So, I sit and write as if writing were the only thing that could get me out,

Out of here, straight down the road and onto- who knows where?

The wild blue yonder?  Past times?  Present tense?

It doesn’t matter, actually, as this frees me up,

Makes me realise that the pen, (or keyboard, in my case) is mightier than the sword a thousand times over.

Too little is spent on saying what’s really going on, too little time spent on repairing cracks when what’s truthfully, desperately needed, is a complete overhaul of everything we know.

How we talk, reason, understand, communicate.

Ah, there’s the rub (thank you Mr Shakespeare) communication.

Something we use with increasing speed, yet something we can’t grasp.

You try explaining to a child why they can’t have a toy/a game/another ice cream.

Try telling them and, for most of the time, you go round and round in ever widening circles.

Why not? It’s not fair! But you said! They’ve got one! I hate you…..

The complexities of what we think, do, say are forever waiting to catch us unawares, looking for the moment we fall, searching for a loophole.

Do you really say how you feel? Of course, there are people who are paid well to say the first thing that comes out of their mouths. Why? Because we need to “hear the truth” about being old/overweight/lazy/scroungers.  So what is this telling us? That we can be derisive, crude, rude, exploiting ourselves, and others, so that the whole world can “get a grip” “say it how it is”

Please.

If we really knew how to communicate, all the above would lose its sparkle, its acerbic edge.

We’d learn the value, the weight of each consonant, each vowel, each phoneme.  Each phrase would carry with it far more kudos, more understanding, more devotion than a thousand, million diatribes.

Grammar is important, of course, but the truth of the word, however it is spelt or said is worth its weight in gold.  When we grasp how to tell each other that we care for, love, respect, disagree with in a way that is respectful and insightful, then maybe, just maybe, we’d stop this cavalcade of bitter, reproachful, spat out words and get back to basics.

How to love and be loved.

How to listen, to reason, be heard without having to shout.

To understand the whole gamut of views that may not be ours but a view that has it’s right to exist because it covers all the bases.  It hasn’t passed judgement, but it has stated a belief, a faith that is loved and cherished, not rammed down our throats, not threatened us, our lives.

Now it’s time to re-evaluate, re-negotiate, re-configure.

Now it’s time to start.