Less

I am finding that with every passing year, month, week and day I'm having less and less to say. I think it may be a good thing.

It's not that I don't have opinions on things brought before me, I do, but it's just that I have finally learned to temper my reactive nature. Maybe I'm trying to be more dignified. Maybe I've come to the realization that nothing I say will change anything, or make any difference in a hundred years.

I was recently engaged in a one sided conversation with someone recently and I was starting to feel like I was trapped in a coyote moment where I wanted to gnaw off a leg so I could escape. I was wishing that someone would call my cell or that someone would start a fire, but she went on and on.

It seems that some people get talkative when they get older. I've been to a few memorial services in the past few months where there were scheduled speakers, but eventually they opened the mic to allow anyone to comment. Two particularly verbose retirees were at these memorials. When each started talking the phrase, "Even freight trains come to a stop from time to time" ran through my head.

I am reminded of a thing that happened in one of the old Our Gang Comedy shows. There was an obese child whose mother hung a sign on him that said "Do Not Feed Me." I would like to get a sign for some people that says, "Do Not Give Me A Microphone." Or perhaps design a microphone that turns itself off after three minutes.

Here's an example