July | 2021 | Listening With Erik

Head on pillow, air is soft, slumber slows as tippy toes pat through the room. I fail to keep the partially pronounced pouting off in the distance, Jamie sternly yet sleepily announces my task; and my morning begins.

“YES!” is my first word, throwing my light covers aside, a foot falls to the floor and the bed gives a gentle creak to announce my move.

“Let’s go potty.”

Pat, pat, pat, pat, pat, pat, pat across the room; princesses on her pink gown, mild interest on her face, awake she approaches the bathroom tile. Fumbling but swiftly I transfer her from floor to throne, happy to be holding a dry diaper in my hands. Tinkling and then a thumbs up, her work is done.

With each move as I transition her back to the floor, whatever hope I had for more sleep slides away, and my body steps into the start of this day.

Where will we go? What’s that noise? Oh BINGO! We cuddle our pooch on the couch while he groans and wags his tail. She looks up at me rubbing her tummy “I so hungry dad!”

Wandering to the kitchen “OH!” she sees the berries I bought last night. Now I’m congratulating myself as breakfast is made in my mind from my late night shopping trip. Fresh raspberries, blueberries, a bed of yogurt with just a touch of honey, and some vanilla granola to make it complete.

We sit at the table, her eyes wide with interest, I guide her hand to the spoon and she… wants to color.

Hoping it’s just a mild distraction I crack open the Minnie Mouse coloring book. The spoon has not moved. Maybe the ingredients aren’t mixed. With a couple swishes of the bowl I hand it back to her.

She sinks, deflated, crosses her arms and turns away from me.

Nothing can undo the damage I’ve done. Was it the touch of honey? I try showing her the coloring and notice a piece of a puzzle on the page and start to color it in. I didn’t know it, but I can make a pretty good Minnie Mouse shoulder.

“Erik?” I hear my wife sleepily call.

Oh no.

I pace back to our room where I find head on pillow, air soft, but my daughter’s head is now on my pillow and I’m being called to make a bottle so she can begin slumber anew.

I turn back to the kitchen cursing, confused. Just when the world grows dark and all are against me…

I notice a fresh and tasty breakfast swirled the way I like, with just a touch of honey.

When I was a young boy it seemed only published items were typed. Intentional, edited, and reviewed; the published word was rarely offhand and almost always considered the reader.

Today it seems there is barely a communication that isn’t typed. Wandering, sloppy, and uninspected; today’s typed word is almost always offhand and rarely considers the reader.

This is not being said to point a mean finger at the changing time, but it’s a remark on the situation that we are all in. There is a part of me that sees the typed word and subconsciously feels it must be important or true simply because it is typed. But over the decades with every wandering complaint, the not-so-subtle sea of the sales pitch, and passing thoughts being passed off as The Word; I’ve been battered into a dull haze on text.

I like thoughts. I like people. Sweet sensation to stir the soul, feeling my heart flutter; life has A LOT to offer. However: pain, prejudice and poor conditions seem to always pop up somehow, and I know you don’t like them either.

Here’s the thing. Do we really need to spell out the negative so much? Eww! Yuck! Hey! Ergh, so bad! I mean really; so bad. BAD BAD BAD.

I benefit more from finding out where IS the good stuff. What is something new I might like? Is there something that might help me, help my family?

I don’t feel like I benefit much from “that is bad.” “Those are bad too.” “Those people are mean.” And what seems to be very important: “those folks did really bad stuff in the past.”

“Don’t hold your hand in fire.” Got it.

“Don’t punch people in the face.” Good to know!

“Keep off the grass.” Really?

Everyone has a voice, and basically everyone can publish it. This is a MAJOR accomplishment. GO SOCIETY! Seriously, GOOD JOB!

Now, I say: let’s all see if we can push the good stuff up above the bad. Yeah, obviously knock off the bad stuff. But also, let’s do the good!

We all type, we hit send: we publish. The flow of words and ideas will not stop, nor should it ever. However, we can improve what we put out. It will take some intention, some editing, and we’ll need to think of who we are writing for.

But seriously- with just a bit of focus we can make some things happen that we want.

Are you with me?

Listening With Erik

Monthly Archives: July 2021

Morning Rudetine

Democratization of Publication, Dilution of Significance