"Eh" is a two letter word..

I don't get it. You are walking down the road, people all around are shouting: "Watch out for the snake!" You carry on walking. More shouts: "Watch out for the snake!", you hear them but because the sun is shining and its a beautiful day, you refuse to look down. After all, you are not going to let these idiots spoil your walk on this glorious day. A few steps later, sure as Bob is your Uncle and not your first cousin, you are a pair of bite marks richer. You fall down in agony, people rush to your aid and as they put you onto the stretcher and into the ambulance, the onlookers hear you whisper: "Why did nobody warn me?". That is what I do not get.

You are probably wondering what this has got to do with Saturday evening. Well, to tell you the truth, not much. It was part of the conversation we had, but as the story that was told is as old as the hills and the person involved refuses to listen to warnings about snakes, potholes or any other obstacles, we labelled it as "boring" and continued to much on our quesidillas.

It was a bit of an impromptu Fat Saturday. We met some friends in Kingston and that lead to coffee, coffee led to a play date and a play date led to them cooking us supper in our own home. I must admit, there is NOTHING better than being entertained in your own home. For the first time ever, I could sit back and relax, have a conversation and the food was placed in front of me. I did not even have to cook it, prepare it or even cut it myself. Absolute heaven! Thanks guys, it was an absolute treat. I do not know the precise recipe they used, but found this version on the Jamie website: Quesadillas with Guacamole. What wonderful guests! They bring their own food, cook their own food, serve you a meal and feed you chocolate afterwards. Not any chocolate, no, Lind Sea Salt Chocolate. Jip, Salt and chocolate, my perfect snack. I am not a fan of too sweet things, so this chocolate is just perfect! Just as the sweet gets too much, the salt kicks in. Heaven for this salt junkie!

SO back to the snake thingie. It is weird isn't it? I once heard a lecture where the guy started off by saying: "The only thing we learn from History, is that we learn nothing from History." How true. Why can't we listen to people who have had the same experiences and have seen how badly things can turn out and save ourselves the trouble? Why do we have to look the other way and think that we are so wonderful and that we are so unique that our stories are going to turn out differently? When will we realise that we are not the exception, but the rule?

I blame the media, I blame this whole positive thinking ideology that is all around us. We are being trained NOT to ask questions, NOT to doubt anything. Just believe everything you are told, because if we don't, you are being negative or you are the prophets of doom.In the olden days these guys were stoned to death, nowadays, they fire them or shun them from the church gatherings. I saw a very interesting clip on YouTube lately by journalist, author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich. In the clip she explores the darker side of positive thinking. It is called Smile or Die. I must say, I think it is worth the watch, although it mostly talks about the economy, I think it is a general problem in society. I probably make so many people mad by being like this and frankly I do not understand why I am like this myself. It is much easier to look the other way and to pretend that everything is just fine.

We ended the evening on Saturday with a game of scrabble. A beautiful two letter word was used by Stefan to gracefully win the game: "Eh". I looked it up in the dictionary and read the following definition:

eh  (eɪ)
— interj


an exclamation used to express questioning surprise or to seek the repetition or confirmation of a statement or question: Eh? What did you say?

I will use this word liberally in my next conversation with the party referred to in above "boring" conversation. Maybe if I express my questioning surprise or seek confirmation of the statements made by said party, I will gain a little more understanding as to why the warnings against the snake in the road are so flippantly being ignored.

Until next week...