Finding our own rhythm and sticking to it
We all know people who describe something in a way that means not to offend. Such as when a realtor says that the house is charming or an older person is defined as being in their advanced years. We all know what those things mean until we don’t.
Sometimes, softening up language gets in the way of what we really mean to say or to understand. So, let’s start a movement of saying what we mean, when we mean to say it, and how we mean for it to be heard.
Old waitresses with names like Flo and Sunny do this every day. The waitresses who still wear aprons and nametags. They serve up coffee in ceramic mugs that should have been retired years ago. They take your order in cafés with large windows, bar seats, and the sounds of the local AM radio. I like those kinds of waitresses. They don’t mess around, and they know what they were created to do on this good earth.
Old barbers are the same. The kinds with the perfectly lined up salt and pepper mustaches. They work in places called Joe’s or just Barbershop. The seats are worn, and the red-white-and-blue barber pole sticks a little with each revolution. Still, everything is meticulously clean when you walk in, and they know what they are there to do — to give you the exact cut you’ve been getting for years. Don’t ask for something different.
