The Struggle That Won’t End

Week 16

The Struggle That Won’t End

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1. It’s weird sometimes, how we just fall into a conversation with either a friend or stranger.

2. Someone pulls the trigger on a thought they want to spend time with, and there’s a listener willing to take it up.

3. So here’s the opening gambit: Gossip can serve a good purpose.

4. A release valve, she seems to be saying. Lightens the load of anger that could get to boiling.

5. Realism in human affairs winning out over idealism—the better way.

6. OK, none of us is pure—a constant balm, a slippage inevitable.

7. But habitual, a carcass in the making, one’s own, to perfection.

Unctuous?

We were just

relaxing on break

at a conference,

nestled in an alcove.

We’d made contact

by way of words

we spoke

in the larger group.

She says, “I’ve heard

there’s a social purpose

to gossip,

a good thing, you know.”

I said that sounds

like a journalistic tidbit,

a feature writer’s

cooking up a topic

for munching claques.

Later, I wondered further . . .

Hmmm, does it lighten

the load—in the bigger picture,

a societal safety valve?

How can it

when it makes me feel cheap—

speaking or listening?

Thoughts anyone?

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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