We Couldn't Agree More unless it Were Less

We had another nearly-nice day yesterday around here. I'm treating June in Connecticut as if it were a chocolate layer cake, always moist. Seems to be more or less a national trend but I don't live in Indiana, so I don't know what it's like where you are. I do know when John Donne rings the bell around here, I'm the only one in my corner. And right now, even though summer has officially started, I'm not working on my tan, that's rust.

So, of course, we had showers (if we were to NOT have showers, I'd fret that something was wrong with the clouds. Oldest children worry about everything and when stuff is going great, we worry that we overlooked something), not torrents of rain (at least around here) but enough rain that you knew it was raining as if Gene Kelly could keep a secret if his life depended on it.

And as I walked from Point A to Point 2 (I majored in neither math or phonics at Rutgers, nor orienteering (come to think of it) which must be why so many people tell me where to go) I passed a building where the sprinklers were on, making sure the lawn was getting watered. I almost dropped my umbrella in surprise. I imagine there's a schedule for this kind of stuff and a contract to regulate the relationship between the waterer and the wateree and yet, this is another one of those bridges that becomes a wall.

Instead of an agreement that helps get things done, we have a starting gun in a footrace to see which side can come with a faster reason for why something cannot be accomplished. Or, we have a variant of the Abilene Paradox in which one party is not willing to even attempt to change a relationship even though they say they want change. Instead, they maneuver to have the other side come up with reasons for why change is bad so they are absolved of any responsibility to change.

Happens everyday and more often than you'd imagine. Just watch the evening news and listen to what those who are our leaders say and then watch they do. In Hartford, Connecticut right now, both the Republican Governor and the Democratic state house want a responsible state budget. With both sides wanting one, what could be easier to accomplish? Yeah, right. Tell you what, how about you hold on to the umbrella and I'll go get a yellow Macintosh and a rainhat to go with it. I already have the tartar sauce, so no pressure; but for Friday dinners we like a nice piece of cod, okay?
-bill kenny