Author: Michelle

Don’t ask me to apologize
I won’t ask you to forgive me
If I’m gonna go down
You’re gonna come with me
Hand in hand.
–Elvis Costello

 

This doesn’t do much to explain my belief system unless I’m explaining through opposites. (Good band name, Explaining thru Opposites)

I’ve always secretly  wanted to be the sort of vindictive person who would get revenge on anyone who crossed me, but being a fundamentally decent person really got in the way of that. Singing along to this song lets me indulge my repressed vengeful side without adversely impacting my Karma.

 

I don’t need special quotations and songs  to explain what I believe, really.

It’s simple:

Pay attention, and don’t be a douche.

 

You’d think not being a douche would be the hard part, but for me it’s paying attention that is a challenge. I’m sure there are people out there who would argue that I don’t do a great job about not being an asshole either, but I’m MUCH worse at indulging my ethereal side and letting my mind be anywhere but in the present.

 

This is partly because I have a really good imagination, but it’s also the sign of someone who might get a wee bit over-analytical about things that either happened in the past or might happen at some point in the future. Neither of which are  all that helpful to me when I live in the present.  Which I try to do. Sometimes it can be fun to imagine, which is the lure, but other times it’s just overindulging the already dark corners of my brain too much and I really don’t need extra emphasis on what’s bad, possibly might become bad or what was bad in the past.

 

So I drag my brain back from wherever it wanders of to and remind myself that Now is the place to be.

Time to be.

Whatever.

Now.

 

 

P.S.

You know, I really don’t see why I can’t just hit people sometimes.

I don’t.

Hit them,  I mean.

But sometimes I really want to.

Not a punch in the face,

but a good, hard  body check would be soooo emotionally and physically satisfying if someone annoys me.

Just Hulk Smash someone into a wall.

BAM.

 

Maybe it’s time to check into taking hockey lessons….

They frown on body checking where I work.

Damn.

 

 

 

 

The boat yeah you know she’s rockin’ it
And the truth well you know there’s no stoppin’it

–Jack White/Denial Twist

 

 

Well?

Hmmm.

 

Oh!

 

According to the song, you can’t stop the truth.

Is  that true?
I tend to think so, mostly.

 

 

Some people are really good at holding the truth in, but it seems like the it usually manages to squeeze its way out of any available crevice.

 

First I was going to say “like toothpaste” but then I thought that it would sound better to say it is more like water…and really, how far could I carry that toothpaste analogy? (Note to self: see what you can do with the toothpaste analogy as a mental exercise. No one will want to see THAT.)

 

Right. Truth is like water.

Water is  so…so….what?

Simultaneously benign and bad-ass.

Watch your kids run through the sprinkler laughing on a hot Summer day, or watch a flooded river tear your home right off its foundation and float it away.

You need water to keep you alive. Water dripping on a rock can wear a hole right through it given enough time. Water can suck you into a whirlpool and kill you.  Water inside of you, water in the ocean. (Must resist the urge to throw some Talking Heads verses in…must…resist)

 

Strong through softly unyielding persistence or  through big crashing, explosive waves.

The truth can behave the same way as water. As essential to our well being as water,  as insidiously and gradually dangerous as the damage from a tiny invisible water leak or as dramatically and immediately destructive as a tsunami…the truth with generally find its way out into the world.  Ready or not. Here it comes.

The truth can be as sweet and soulful as  telling your first boyfriend you love him or as mind blowing as  telling your husband you’re addicted to gambling and have been embezzling from work.

 

Water to sustain you, or water to carry your whole life away.

(Disclaimer–I’m not addicted to gambling or embezzling from anyone.)

 

People tend to discover who you and what you really are, no matter how you try to hide it. You’re better off just letting the truth flow out of you. Channel that energy you’d waste keeping it inside of you into something else. Something cool. Something you’ve always wanted.

 

Be ready to share it, to hear it.

 

No one really wants a truth tsunami, although it would be a relatively good band name.

 

Have a big glass of water now.

 

 

 

 

Bonus lyric, just because I like it:

If you think holding hands is all in the fingers,
Grab hold of the soul where the memory lingers, and
Make sure to never do it with a singer
Cause he’ll tell everyone in the world

What he was thinking about the girl.