Trigger Question #32:
Two boys and a dog are out in a field. The boys are standing and chatting; the dog is sitting and howling. “Why is your dog howling?” asks the one boy. “He’s sitting on a bed of thorns, but he is too lazy to lift his butt,” replies his friend. (I saw this as a cartoon when I was but a lad myself. It made an impression on me. Like thorns are wont to do.)
Now picture this. You feel unwell. You, or your health care boffin, identify the issue and figure out what medicine should be the fix. You take the medicine. Or not.
Or picture this. You experience a problem at work. You play detective. You figure out the cause and find a solution. You implement the solution. Or not.
Now let’s talk about the nonsense divide. You know what I mean. That imaginary ‘—’ which separates ‘non’ and ‘sense’ so that we find sense on the one side and ‘non-sense’ on the other.
There’s a divide between feeling the pain and finding a remedy. And there is a divide between knowing the remedy and implementing the fix.
But these divides are not mere time lags. Every time-interval between experience, remedy, and fix creates a bit of friction that can stop us from taking the next obvious step. Like a lazy dog sitting on a bed of thorns.
Your job is to move smoothly from initial problem to potential solution to final resolution. To cross the nonsense divide. Each divide. Without too much howling.
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
. . .
Quote of the Moment:
“Happy is the hypochondriac who finds an ache in every cure.” The Chief Nonsense Officer.
. . .