6-Commando

I took a swing today at Captain Da Costa, native of the Azores, acting 2IC of Rucker’s armored company, and a very competent armor commander.

I’m sadly shocked by my prophetic powers given last week’s title and the events of the following seven days.  But you don’t come here to listen to it from me.  But if you’re willing to tolerate a little sermon from me this week, I’ll say this.  Someone I know from college said something extremely interesting to me yesterday, which I thought I’d share.  “Try not using the word ‘obviously,’ maybe for a week or so, and then see how much easier it is to see things from someone else’s perspective.”  Interesting idea.  “Obviously” is a word we use when we wish to assert that something is so plain that not understanding it renders the other person pointless to argue with, but maybe we’ve gotten too used to overusing or misusing it.  It too easily becomes a way of dismissing things you’d rather not take pains to comprehend, a kind of shortcut through your higher brain functions that cuts off a lot of difficult or complicated thoughts you might prefer not to have.  It hems in your own perceptions by making it easier to accept what you assume or would prefer to be true, and encourages you to do more asserting and less persuading.  And just admitting that you can see things from someone else’s perspective is not, as we all seem to believe right now, an act of disloyalty to our own side, for those of us who know “sides” at times like these.  If nothing else, maybe consider it an act of charity, because something’s gotta give.

Thank you, Colin.  Pretty powerful stuff for a text message, so I just thought I’d leave everyone with that.

I’m going to try it, myself.