So, like . . . umm, I dunno. What do you think?

I have noticed recently that people are talking and writing more in cliches than actually participating in meaningful discourse. Perhaps it is easier it the weeks before an election to have surrogates speak in catch phrases and slogans than to actually look a voter in the eye and speak from the heart. But this phenomenon is not limited to politicians.

The advertising world is, obviously, replete with examples but that is their entire purpose. Isn't it? Picking a catchy phrase, evoking an image, associating a catchy little tune with a product and saturating the airwaves/print media/internet. Communicating through minimalism.

As a result, meaningful human discourse is suffering. Stock questions invite epigrammatic answers. "'Morning, Joe. How you doin'?" "If I was any better -- I'd be you, Bill." is a typical exchange. No one really answers questions anymore. And, sadly, no one asks questions for which they care to have an answer. It is just that people are expected to talk to each other so they do . . . after a fashion.

I spend a lot of time talking to people on vacation and I understand that they want to leave their day-to-day stuff behind, but I overhear and am involved in the most inane conversations you could imagine. And the thing is, they seem to be pre-packaged conversations bought at some wholesale opinion store. I have joked around about deja vu in this blog but I swear I've had the same word-for-word conversation with ten different people. Doesn't anyone have an opinion of their own, anymore?

People used to tell stories, reminisce, philosophize, teach. We used to honestly seek out others ideas and view points. Now we are divided into camps of pre-packaged thoughts and opinions. But, worst of all, they aren't even our own, well thought out, struggled over, weighing the issues and consequences, heart-felt opinions. They are someone else's ideas that we pass off as "what we believe."

Schools dispense pre-packaged, sanitized, politically correct factoids to the students and hotly debate, outside the classroom, whether conflicting ideas or theories should be taught. Shouldn't some of that intellectual energy be going on inside the classroom? If the students never hear about conflicting theories, how will they learn to think for themselves?

We have the ability to live in a golden age of enlightenment. Communication is instantaneous. Our body of knowledge is broad and deep. Yet, our experiences and intellectual pursuits are shallow and repetitive. We live in a world that tries to niche people for marketing purposes; controlled by politicians who demonize conflicting viewpoints and are educated by politically motivated teachers who try to limit free thought.

No wonder I can't find a decent conversation any more.

Test. Test. Is This Thing On?

I hate clutter. I think everything should have its place. And if it is not important enough to have its own place it ought to be thrown out. I guess I'm a neat freak.

For example: When I get the mail every day I put it on the kitchen table for my wife to see when she gets home. The mail typically consists of bills, ads and magazines/catalogs. It has never been my intention to have the kitchen table be the final resting place for every bill, ad and magazine/catalog that enters the house. I put that stuff there as a courtesy. But the piles just keep growing.

And here's the thing. It's not like these things don't have a place of their own. I have a complete office with filing cabinets and vertical IN/OUT trays on the desk and my wife has a file folder in her briefcase for the bills. The waste basket is a fairly convenient place for most of the ads. I have a place in the office for the magazines we subscribe to and another place for the current catalogs. But for some reason the stacks of mail will stay on the kitchen table for weeks at a time.

Now, I know what you are thinking. "Why doesn't he sort the mail and put it where it belongs?" I could easily do that. But when I did, bills didn't get paid, I'd throw out the wrong advertising flyers (coupons, etc.), subscription renewal dates would get missed, and she likes to look at some of the art catalogs.

So, I'm not sure there is a solution. I hate clutter and she gets to the stacks of mail on some biological schedule that I have been unable to decipher. We have talked about this many times and nothing has ever changed.

Why am I writing about this today? I got to thinking that maybe this is one of those subjects that her brain automatically opts out of. You know, I start talking, her brain identifies the subject and suddenly all she hears is, "Blah, blah, blah." Maybe she can't even help it. It might be a conditioned reflex. Maybe she doesn't even know this is bugging me.

So I decided to try a different sensory input. I know she reads my blog every day. (Hi, Nina.)

My next attempt will be a message in alphabet soup. Maybe she'll taste the clutter.