Sunday, July 25, 2010

Cold Coffee

I've run out of steam. With good intentions and one salient thought, I boot up the computer to follow-up a phone conversation. One e-mail, two forwarded jokes, a quick check of the headlines, a look at the last post in another blog of mine and I'm ready to shut down the computer. I started at 5:30 on a foggy, dead-still Sunday morning. Fed the cat, tussled the dog's fur and heated up a cup of coffee.

I should have swiped another two hours of sleep like my wife. Blame it on a book. I stayed up later than usual reading a memoir of a woman living in a dysfunctional family. It ticks me off that the person has a best seller, probably makes tons of money off a well written but degrading story of her life. I think I may be a little bit jealous. I don't want fame or fortune. I'm doing OK. So, I tell myself the road to a journey starts with a first step. "Quit side-stepping."

The idea, you ask? When people screw up or something negative happens, they'll say, "I didn't mean to..." It's a half assed-blanket apology. I'm not searching for answers on this though either, so save the comment. Guy is standing in front of the judge. He's receiving the maximum sentence for manslaughter in a hit and run case. "But your honor, I didn't mean to hit him/her." No amount of apology is going to bring back the dead person.

That's the most flagrant example. Others, less serious, are equally offensive on my scale of stupid f-ing apologies. Does this person think that by saying, "I didn't mean to..." it absolves them of responsibility for their actions? It just burns my shorts, always did.

And did you notice how I began this short diatribe?

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