“That is so awesome”, he heard his teenaged daughter exclaim under her breath.
“What’s so awesome?” he inquired.
Pulling the earbud from her ear, she asked, “What did you say?”
Smiling at her, he repeated, “What’s so awesome?”
“Mr. Dawson” she said, as she got up from the couch and moved towards him.
Pulling her phone out in front of them, she scrolled through pictures of the Dawson’s anniversary celebration. “Check out what Mr. Dawson did for their anniversary. Look, that’s the limo; and this is the hotel they stayed at; and look at all the flowers he had in the room. This is the restaurant they ate at. It’s like a fairytale.”
Her father nodded his head, and replied, “that is nice”.
Furrowing her brow she added, “You and mom have a way better relationship than the Dawson’s, so why don’t you ever do anything like that for her?”
Taking an extra breath, he pushed past the urge to be offended at the implication that his anniversary traditions lacked an element of lavishness, and he asked, “What makes you think that our marriage is ‘way better’ than the Dawson’s?”
“Well, you treat mom way better than Mr. Dawson treats his wife,” she said.
“Give me some examples?’ he pressed.
“Well, you and mom talk all the time, and Mr. Dawson pretty much ignores Mrs. Dawson; and you never snap at mom or get hateful, but Mr. Dawson does that a lot; and you guys are always hanging out together, and Mr. Dawson almost always seems to be with his friends.”
“So, you’re saying that I do the everyday sorts of the things well, while Mr. Dawson really knows how to do a special occasion?” he queried.
“Yeah, I guess that’s right,” she answered.
“So let me ask you a question. When you get married, which would you rather have?”
Smiling slyly, she said, “I would actually like to have both, but if I could only have one, I would definitely take the everyday stuff.”
Grinning at her, he said, “I hope you get both, but if your husband doesn’t make you feel loved on a daily basis, it’s doubtful that the special occasion will mean much to you.”
She nodded in agreement, and as she turned he added, “I think God feels that way too”.
Turning back, she said, “what?”
“I’m just saying that I think God feels the same way. We can dress up for church and make a big production with our prayers and worship, and feel like we’ve really made a statement about our relationship with Him, but if we then ignore Him for the rest of the week, I doubt it means that much.”
Wincing, she said, “Ouch!”
Again, nodding, he said, “me too”. “But ultimately that’s why He gives us daily bread; so that we’ll come back every day. If you really think about it, the most extravagant way to love someone, is to love them every day.”
Thought for the Day – Rhetorically Speaking
Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Social / Political, Thought for the Day / Quotes, tagged civil war, dialogue, protests, rhetoric on October 17, 2018| Leave a Comment »
A popularly held idea is that protests draw attention to an issue and create dialogue; but I’ve noticed that depending on the nature of the protest, it more often distracts us from the real issue and creates rhetoric. Dialogue is talking to each other, presumably with the intent of reaching some new level of agreement, while rhetoric is talking at each other, generally used to establish the superiority of our position. One has the potential to move us forward together, while the other can become the basis for civil war.
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