Listening, Big Brothers, Logic, and Believing What You Hear

What Did He Say?

Loan me ten dollars, but only give me five. That way you’ll owe me five. I’ll owe you five, and we’ll be even.

My younger, older brother is a clever guy — always has been. He could talk a fish out of water. He could get the neighborhood to wash the car for him. Everything he did seemed to be a game or a show of some kind.

“I can read your mind.”
“No, you can’t.
“Sure I can. You’re thinking I can’t read your mind.”

He’d send a whistle through his teeth and I’d be there. He had a junk drawer filled with exciting objects and a mind of exciting ideas.

“Kid, let me tell you about that picture. See, the princess — that’s you — She has two kings beside her and she has to do everything they tell her except on St. Patrick’s Day. On St. Patrick’s Day, she gets to be the queen.”

I’m his younger sister by more than 8 years. If he wanted company, I was there. I saw magic in him. He saw an eager audience in me.

“Want to split a coke?”
A few minutes later, I’d get an empty bottle.
“Sorry, kid, my half was on the bottom. I had to drink your half to get to it.”

He wasn’t a teacher in any traditional form, but I learned a lot by growing up with him.

“How does that work?”
“If you don’t know, I can’t tell you. If you do, then I don’t need to.”

I learned to listen for the meaning under the words.

Most folks don’t play quick and clever like my younger, older brother used to play with me. Still we all get caught using convoluted and circular logic — even when we talk to ourselves. Be on the lookout for it, especially today.

Happy April 1 … “Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.”

Ever bump into someone like my younger, older brother?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!