Chirp

I like crickets. I like the sound that they make, late at night. Okay, I'm not too thrilled when we go into the garage, and the cricket who's taken up residence in the far corner abruptly stops chirping upon our entry, then fires it back up again a second later when its obvious that we're not a threat. I'm not sure what it says about us when even a cricket doesn't think we're much of a threat, though I suppose thats a good assessment. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not a particularly combative guy, so though I would imagine I could handle things if the cricket abruptly jumped out, gave me the eye, and said 'You want a piece of me?', its just as likely that I'd say no, and walk quietly away. To the sound of mocking chirps, of course.

I really don't like controversy, or people getting agitated. I'll usually just shut down when that happens, wait for them to calm down, and then start talking again. People who talk very, very fast, particularly in a rising tone, tend to not get much of a response from me, because I'm not one to start jabbing my finger, interjecting, and all of that. Reasoned conversations are more my forte, all of which means that you likely won't be seeing me on any of the talk shows any time soon. Thats not to say I can't get agitated on my own, but as a rule, not in conversation with other people, unless I really, really trust them. And I don't really, really trust very many people.

Political conversations, lately, seem to be nothing but agitated people speaking quickly and loudly, though, and they quickly become emotional. People cannot admit that their candidate is anything less than perfect, or that the opposing candidate is anything less than a demon. I'm not sure if this might not be a defensive mechanism. I don't like John McCain, but there are things about him I do like. I prefer Barack Obama, but there are things about him that I do not like. Even sitting quietly, though, I have to stop and think: what are things I like about McCain? What are things I don't like about Obama? In a sense, I suppose it doesn't matter -- its a binary choice, and whether I like 50.001 percent of what I know about Obama or 100.000 percent, the result is the same -- he's my choice. So, why not just assume he's perfect, which of course means the other side is a demon?

Well, for one, because I think that doing assessments that way is wrong, and polarizing, which is one of the last things we need in this country. But I don't want to get into an argument about it.

[sound of crickets in the night....and one in the garage, laughing]