Saturday, November 08, 2008

elephant in the room

It seems we are entirely capable of continuing to pretend it isn't there, or that it's not really an elephant, even after the elephant has died. We make the vaguest of possible references, along the lines of "There were times in my life when I sensed a certain ... grayness in the room." Meanwhile, the room continues to stink from the elephant's shit, which some of us are still trying to clean up, with limited success.



Image by nickandmel2006 on flickr, licensed as described here.

If I may be so bold: At least the damn thing is dead. Or as a very wise one whom I admire said "One down, 90,000 to go" (or something like that)

Note to elephant lovers: this post has nothing to do with elephants, and I apologize if it has offended your sensibilities.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOVE it! Nicely written. Vague grayness always exists once there is history. At least yours is moving and hasn't plonked its ass down in the middle of your living room. Hate it when the damn thing blocks the tube!

Rachel J-L said...

Who are you including in the "we"?
Perhaps you need to move around the room a bit more to hear what's being said in other parts.

Joe said...

Not sure what you are talking about.

Eliza said...

Ah, but which particular elephant has kicked the bucket? There's more than one, you know....

Chad Minnick said...

I share your distaste for ignoring elephants. Especially when they have caused pain to someone you love.

It's amazingly oxymoronic to ignore open secrets if you ask me.

I do know what you are talking about, my friend. And my heart really does ache for you and the pain you feel.

Sorry for the pain that your righteous sorrow and understandable anger is causing you, and I'm even more sorry that the elephant wasn't acknowledged a long time ago when it might have helped bring healing in her life.

Anonymous said...

What a bizzare comment to say your sorry for someones "righteous sorrow" and the pain it causes. Its so confusing. Its like saying on the one hand that you empathize with someone's pain and yet at the same time seeming to look down on them because of the type of pain they are having and what its been caused by. Allthough I may have misunderstood the meaning which is easy to do sometimes in txt.

Anonymous said...

Maybe elephant shit makes good fertiliser?

Benjamin Ady said...

Vidette,

thank you =)

Victor and Rachel,

Indeed. I said "we" to avoid getting myself in trouble. To be further safe, I'll say the "we" includes human beings. As in "We human beings". =)

Joe, that's alright. I'm not sure what I'm talking about half the time myself. Anyway, I made it intentionally vague as hell.

Eliza,
Thank you for reminding us. So many elephants, really.

Chad, thank you for your kind words. Although I wasn't actually referring to the situation you think I was referring to. But that situation was (and still is) equally stupid. So it works.

Kat,

You're awesome.

Seren,

You're one of the people with whom interacting makes me think "I wish I could be more like them." Which is to say--you're awesome.