Talking

Another cold and windy day, with a snow storm forecast for later today… it’s expected to be very messy, so I’m thankful that I don’t have any appointments tomorrow, as it’s supposed to be particularly bad by the morning.  Jerry has been sniffing suspiciously at the snow today, and growling, which is what happens when it’s windy as he’s uncomfortable with the noises and seeing things flying.  If it happens at night, he tries to burrow under me, while shivering.  Don’s pretty good today; we had to be up early as my nurse made a visit before 9am, so he took a nap this afternoon, and I was deep in a book… I’ve got to get back to my crochet and do some work on that so it doesn’t hang around for a long time; at the moment, it’s in serious danger as I have only sporadically worked on it.  I’m seriously considering that I’m overly ambitious, but why not?

When I was a teen, I remember several sermons at church and lectures by some of the catechists (RE teachers) who complained about “slackers” who didn’t regularly attend services or classes.  I always wondered at the logic of complaining to the people who were present about those who weren’t there.  Talking about the backsliding behaviour of non-attendees never made sense.  I also often wondered about the reason for lecturing a captive audience about not being attentive.  I did, once, mention to a priest that I hoped that he wouldn’t be late for his flight, as I felt that he’d just raced through everything except his overly lengthy sermon… I then had a lecture from my mother on not being rude.  I argued that we were always being told to respect the time in church, not to leave early or arrive late, and feeling that we were being rushed through everything felt disrespectful.  I was reminded of this behaviour recently when a priest stood in front of a weekday morning congregation and complained at how few people were present during Lent.  I’ve watched this particular Mass for a while, and the average attendance is 10 (it’s held at 5:30am most weekdays); on the day that the tirade happened, there were about double the usual numbers.  But it also happens in secular environments, where speakers will complain about the attendance at an event — you’ve got participants, so why shame them for the actions of others?  It also made me think of the expression, “preaching to the choir,” in which the implication is that you’re talking to a captive audience who shares your views, so you’re essentially talking into an echo chamber.

I’ve been finding that I’m sometimes tempted to this behaviour on my more irritated days.  On those days, I’d prefer that I not have to interact with people, and I definitely don’t want to repeat the same thing.  So I might write something here, and I’d get a call from a well-wisher, and I’d want to snap at them to just go read the blog… I’ve restrained myself, sometimes with difficulty, because I don’t intend to be unkind, and it’s nobody’s fault that I’m having a bad day, so I try to remain calm and cheery.  I realize that there are people who read this every time I post, and some respond routinely, others sporadically, and others get the link but never open it, so they don’t know what I’ve said.  I can’t force people to read (this isn’t a mandatory assignment, after all) and I remind myself that if people are kind enough to reach out to me then I really owe them at least a courteous reply, regardless of my feelings.  All that to say that if I happen to be having an off day, and I seem to be abrupt in my communications, please forgive me.  I also promise not to ever say, “just read the blog!”  If you do, thank you very much.  If you don’t — well, you won’t see this, will you?  And I won’t be upset either.

I’m being told that I have been neglecting the puppy for too long.  First I was on the phone for almost an hour, then I was writing, and in both cases I was puppy-free, so that’s not a condition that’s encouraged!  Good night!