BURNINGBIRD
a node at the edge  


September 03, 2002
ConnectingIn Defense of Few Words

Michael Barrish wrote:

    I’ve long believed that we each have a story, often unknown to us, that we try all our lives to prove true. As I see it, this is the key to understanding a lot of otherwise inexplicable behavior.

    If I’m correct, what would your story be?

    Note: It can usually be summarized in five words or less.

    Note: This can be a scary question.

There is nothing new or magical about seeking truth within ourselves, or our interest in discovering why we do the things we do; self-help gurus have made towers of money understanding this drive for self awareness and capitalizing on it.

What does capture the interest and engage the mind with Michael's posed question is trying to find a phrase of five words or less that can adequately describe something so complex. How can we sum up our lives in five words or less?

Easy. The answer is, we don't.

Our lives are too rich and too varied to be easily summed up with so few words. However, we can seek to better understand what makes each of us "tick", our underlying story as Michael describes it, and brevity strips away the non-essential verbage and forces us into a more honest assessment.

There is power in brevity.

Asked to tell a truth about ourselves we immediately seek to describe the causes of the truth and the core of the truth and we wrap it in apologies and explanations and regressions into our childhood, with many asides into events that have had impact on this truth. But we're not describing the truth, only its environment. Stripping away the environment will either reveal the truth or...nothing.

Ultimately, if we can't describe something of such profound importance in five words or less, perhaps we don't truly understand what it is we're describing.

We ask the thief: why do you steal?

The thief answers: I steal because in this society there are the rich and there are the poor, and the rich stay rich by keeping the poor, poor. I steal because I have basic human needs that aren't met by a society that perpetuates a gap between those who have, and those who have not. I steal because I learned from watching my mother and watching my father that you have to steal and cheat and lie to make it in the world. I steal as a way of demanding my fair share in a society that prides itself on being rich.

We change our question but not our intent, and ask the thief: Why do you steal, in five words or less?

Thief: I steal to survive.

We ask the President, why should we invade Iraq?

The President answers: Because Saddam Hussein is an evil man who is an enemy of this country. He has weapons of mass destruction he'll use against us direcctly, or give to terrorists to use against us. He terrorizes his own people and leads based on fear. He provides a haven and training camps for terrorits. He is a repressive dictator who must be stopped before he's allowed to do more damage. We must stop him now before he has a chance to act against us in the future.

We then ask the President, why should we invade Iraq, in five words or less?

And the President answers: Because I can.



Posted by Bb at September 03, 2002 07:50 AM




Comments

And the President answers: Because it is right.

Posted by: Meryl Yourish on September 3, 2002 12:02 PM

Well, Hi Meryl. Long time no see. Of course, if you prefer that perspective, it's still a free world, Ashcroft and Bush's attempts to make this otherwise aside.

Posted by: Shelley aka Bb on September 3, 2002 01:13 PM

Wow.... in less than 10 words you just said thousands about _yourself_ there.

The thief (not _a_ thief?) steals because he needs to survive? The president invades Iraq because he can? LOL.....

You just defined in less than 10 words a well-known stereotype... the 'bleeding heart liberal'.

How about this instead?

The thief: "Because I am unsocially selfish."

The president: "Because Saddam can kill millions."

(1) Mind you, I am NOT saying these are true or that I agree with them. Merely that they are valid.

(2) "The thief" or "The president" is_way_ too simplistic - and I haven't even gotten to how impossible it is to get it down to 5 words.

(3) The only way one person is going to reduce things into 5 words is to put it in terms of _their_ choice of 5 words.

Hey.... I just proved your first point there! That while you can speak with brevity, certain things will never be able to be summed up in 5 words or less.

Posted by: DD on September 3, 2002 03:05 PM

Actually, I was just filling in what I heard a thief say once. I never thought it would be read as me trying to excuse theft.

Oopsie!

However, I was dead on with my interpretation of President Bush. At least, that's my view.

Interesting -- this is becoming a Rorschach weblog posting. Cool.

Posted by: Shelley aka Bb on September 3, 2002 03:22 PM

The president/thief says: "Robbing you blind so the oligarchy can pursue a war for raw materials, stupid." 14 words? The Commander-in-Thief need not be bound by foolish rules of five words or less. It's his country, his rules, if you don't like it go someplace else...

Posted by: Frank on September 3, 2002 06:54 PM

I retract my one comment regarding 'bleeding heart liberals' after seeing your clarification. :-)

Truth be told, I do feel I come from the other side - read: conservative - of the spectrum, but that doesn't mean I don't feel uncomfortable with Bush. Nor does it mean you would feel society is responsible for 'the thief'. That's what I found tough to believe and am glad you straightened me out there.

But you know, if a conservative like me can view certain things liberally and a liberal like you can view some things conservatively... well, first off, that's what makes one word labels like 'conservative' and 'liberal' almost impossible to use in realisitic terms. And second, if one word labels don't really work, how much better is a five word label?

Posted by: DD on September 3, 2002 09:17 PM

I havn't heard "Cause my daddy fucked up."

Posted by: Karl on September 4, 2002 12:05 PM

And the President answers: Because they told me to.
And the President answers: Because oil money made me.
And the President answers: Because there's an election coming.
And the President answers: Look, a bright, shiny thing!
And the President answers: Because you can't stop me.
And the President answers: Because I am pure evil.

Fuck the president.

Posted by: stavrosthewonderchicken on September 5, 2002 01:33 AM


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