the frequent tragedy of written words
I have been thinking of conflict that has taken place between me and a person I have learned to love and with whom I have managed, briefly, to be loving.
Conflict built and sustained by words, by text. Both played a part.
When I think of that conflict, and I think of the sometime loving presence of that person and their ability to dissolve conflict by simply being present, listening, and communicating, I am reminded of the possibilities of loving friendship and friendly loving and the frequent tragedy of written words.
Email messages can be horrible things. They build in hard, concrete silences.
In person a wistful smile and a surrendered drop of the eye might serve as silent invitations to a better moment.
Email gives no such space. It tends to erect monuments to moments of madness, slips of the mind, and flustered thoughtlessness. Friendship-graveyards of archived impetuousness.
Conflict built and sustained by words, by text. Both played a part.
When I think of that conflict, and I think of the sometime loving presence of that person and their ability to dissolve conflict by simply being present, listening, and communicating, I am reminded of the possibilities of loving friendship and friendly loving and the frequent tragedy of written words.
Email messages can be horrible things. They build in hard, concrete silences.
In person a wistful smile and a surrendered drop of the eye might serve as silent invitations to a better moment.
Email gives no such space. It tends to erect monuments to moments of madness, slips of the mind, and flustered thoughtlessness. Friendship-graveyards of archived impetuousness.
posted by Anthony at
10:39 AM
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