Buzzes and Links

I’ve told several, and I stand by it, that people read and hear what they want—or despise to hear. It’s the human habit in us that selfishly separates on many fronts.

We’re not hearing. Or linking, or listening , or something.

Steve told me by phone yesterday that he thought he might be a conservative. Greg will say, as he says many times, and even once again last night, “I’ve told you all along, Steve’s no lib.”

Of course, this wasn’t what Greg said two or three weeks ago, or maybe it’s been a few days. Time has definitely taken its toll on us here.

Buzz words and phrases get us all in trouble. When Steve wrote one of his posts, the one Mom got so fired up about, Greg was busy with the same fit.

I had sent Steve an email of Mom’s post and my response. I was posting it…regardless, but I wanted to give him a heads up so he had time to respond. This is a man in Iraq we’re talking about, a country with enough surprises without the shock of Bell. Several things happened. I’ll list them, though I’m not sure they’re in chronological order as everything went all amuck all at once, or so it seemed to me then:

1. Steve reads my reply to Mom, which is on top of her first post. One she’d sat on for a few days, and we all know the explosion that can cause.

2. Steve fails to read Mom’s post, which is right below my response.

3. Steve’s shock as he leisurely scrolls down the blog to Mom’s explosion.

4. My question, “Did you read the rest of his post, Mom?”

5. No response. This tells me she hasn’t.

6. At some point, Greg says, “Well, let me read the rest of it.”

7. And now Greg is back to his original statement in ¶ 3 above.

8. And at some point, probably Steve will fight to hold on to his label, though we’ve known all along, Steve is conservative; on some things, yes, Steve. And liberal on others.

This reading defect is by no means a conservative defect. It is a liberal deficiency as well, as the link linked below will illustrate. (We have to put other things back into our format when Steve gets here on Tuesday, but I can do these without messing up my template.)

Consider this link linked below, as the Reader’s Digest version of the piece I submitted to Operation Homecoming. Overall, Salon.com did a good job. The absent Christy part of my narrative, I felt, was important information, but who am I?

And I was flattered they’d chosen mine out of the hundred.

And I was horrified by the comments. Or most of them anyway (some readers responded a little better than others). I thought I’d left something out. But I didn’t.

"Give Me Five More Minutes." by Christy De'on Miller