A (brief) Study in Moderation
I’m stealing a scene from Ellen Degeneres’ HBO special here when she speaks on the subject of the true meaning of what we say. For instance, when she talks about how people will mention a paper cut and the other person replies…”oh, that’s the worst thing” – Ellen’s well made point via her reply was… “Really? Is it? The worst thing?” The same about the use of “I’m just kidding” or “You’re kidding.” The example, when a friend makes fun of your hair cut and then closes with, “just kidding”…so that makes it okay. Or a friend tells you that his or her dog died and we reply, “You’re kidding.”It’s a wonderful part of her show and I liken it to Gallagher’s routine on the English language…which is just a riot!!! It also makes me takes pause sometimes when I hear something like that come out of my mouth and I make a mental note and a valiant effort to be more cautious about such things. (It’s probably pretty clear at this point in the game that I am frustratingly anal sometimes about my own grammatical and verbal adequacies. And I say my own because, while I may notice it everywhere, I would never correct it for someone else - unless it’s part of my job….you know, written communication to customers and such.)
To that end, I was commenting yesterday (after a regular trip to the dentist for a cleaning) that I had to stop drinking coffee (occasional Starbucks) and tea so much, since it stains the back of my teeth. Although, really, who sees the back of anyone’s teeth? If you’re that close to someone, I don’t think teeth stains is the most prevalent thought in your mind. The friend to whom I was commenting replied with, “everything is fine in moderation”. It’s a saying I am fond of myself and put great stock in when rationalizing things that I want to do but probably shouldn’t.
Replaying various things in my mind from yesterday, which I am apt to do on a regular basis, that statement repeated itself. And then I heard Ellen on the radio for American Express and a couple cylinders clicked and I thought to myself…”well, probably not EVERYTHING”. I can’t imagine a knife in the heart or a gun shot wound to the head – in moderation – would be okay. I doubt a rape victim would think it’s okay…or a drowning victim. Or getting hit by a car….”well, as long it happens in moderation, you’ll be fine.” You get the point.
And I am, by no means, busting on my friend. As I mentioned, I say that same thing quite often. It just struck me as another one of those quirky things that people say that takes on a whole new perspective when studied literally. And I am all about different perspectives.
My tea tasted wonderful this morning, btw. (If I didn’t have to get in the car and drive for a Starbucks, I would have had that instead.) I enjoyed it immensely as I sat there, typing away in my home office, looking out over the backyard that has filled with leaves, the cat sitting in his usual spot looking at….well, I don’t know what the hell he looks at, to be honest. Very calming and soothing, nonetheless.
I think I can actually feel my teeth beginning to stain. Damnation!
posted by Cherry Indigo (Cindy) @ 11/16/2005 03:47:00 PM
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