I’ve been doing some more writing. I nowhere near finished with this, but I wanted to post this little exchange to see what you thought:
“Why don’t you just close the dryer door?!?!” she questioned.
My wife is not easily aggravated, unless you are her husband and you are doing something that doesn’t make a lot of sense to her. Such was the case on this fateful and memorable day.
“What does it matter?” I responded.
Like her, I am generally non-confrontational. Often, I’m the peacemaker, the arbiter, the mediator. However, it should also be noted that I’m often accused of being stubborn.
“The lightbulb is going to burn out, and there’s just NO REASON to keep it open.”
One of the beautiful benefits of being in a long term relationship with someone is that you become intimately aware of each others character. Here, Kristy was attempting match two pieces of rationale with my voracious need for the same. For whatever reason, I want to know that decisions are being made, actions are being performed, and doors are being shut based on rock-solid justification.
“I’ll just replace the bulb if it burns out… It’s REALLY not a big deal.”
Apparently, my brain found a weakness in her rationale. She needed something more watertight than that to get me to budge.
“Just close it!” she retorted.
“Why?” I crossed my arms, hardly acknowledging her latest blow as if to say, “I shall not be moved.” She was going to need something far more powerful than that to sway me this time.
Kristy turned to walk away. At the same time, my internal voice started it’s own little victory march with enough passion that it felt as though he had grown into a real boy and was physically patting me on the back. Another victory for the good guys.
What I didn’t realize is that there was another bullet in the chamber. My wife wheeled around and let a curious question fly.
“When you’re using the oven to make supper, and you take the food out when you’re done, what do you do with the door?”
My knees went noticeably weak. The hair on the back of my neck stood up tall. My lip quivered.
“I…. I guess… I close it.” It was the verbal equivalent of running up the white flag. Just like that it was over. Victory was hers once again.
In a lot of ways, what I do is greatly dependent on rationale. If you can either justify a behavior with a reason that I agree with, or if you can connect the reason for one behavior with an existing one that I already do, then I’m almost certain to start doing it. A similar situation exists with viewpoints, thoughts and beliefs.
That being said, for a long time, there have been a lot of things that I have done, things that I’ve participated in, even things that I’ve given a lot of my life to that simply didn’t have any good reason behind them. There were things that I simply never questioned.
