This morning I was having a wonderful, searching conversation with a dear friend when I heard myself begin a sentence with, “I feel as though . . . ” and used that cautious, questioning tone I hear a lot from Millennials. (Even now as I write this I am strongly tempted to add a question mark to that sentence?)
What a gift! To be able to efficiently and clearly state: “Okay. I am now moving this conversation into how I feel. And that’s pretty confusing, right? But it’s feeling as though [See what I did just then?] I want to speculatively make a statement about non-factual, totally subjective, more-than-likely-inaccurate or, at the very least, clumsy stuff. Here goes:”
This shorthand announcement, by the way, is pretty much the opposite of another introductory phrase used by young people: “I want to say . . . ” Sentences begun this way are also spoken tentatively, with the speaker sometimes looking upward as if to trying to remember something, but without the question inflection? And these sentences usually end with a fact. A number. A statistic. A clarifying adjective. But, like “I feel as though,” the speaker is giving their listener a useful heads-up, in this case basically saying, “I may very well have no idea what I’m talking about. Don’t go posting this on Facebook for all the world to attack you for. This could not be true.”
Seems as though—yes, another variation—in the polarized, divided, contentious time we’re living in, to hone our ability to engage in conversations, especially when speaking with those with whom we disagree, with caution, with humility, with, if we’ve really got it going on, Love, is something worth working on?
Dear Patricia,
Hi, there, Patricia, and greetings and salutations to you and to you AND FOR VERY ESPECIALLY FOR YOU FOR ALWAYS, my awesomely precious and dearly special FOR ALWAYS soul sistahfriend Christian Quaker woman who you’re FOR ALWAYS so, so very much!!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW, Patricia, WOW!!!!! WOW here!!!!!! AWWWWWW, my darling sister and friend, Patricia, oh, how I so love this very riveting, interesting, and fascinating blog post article here as you very marvelously intuit how are awesome young people as Millenials process their thoughts, communicate, and I can even see here and draw from your very perceptive words that our dearest Millenials have their own unique brand of humor as well. The title of this very engaging and endearing writing here so brilliantly and masterfully composed by YOU, my dear, dearest, precious, darling Patricia is just perfect here and absolutely perfect being quite fitting and applicable to the very gret themes and topics of this great blog post article here. WOW, the picture accompanying your very spectacular blog post article is just perfect, very picture-perfect here, I can see that as the grass is breaking through the cracks on the sidewalk in this vivid picture that it is just like how the Millenials, and, in fact, all of us, break through with our thoughts as they form into ideas that we share and communicate as we go about our day. I've always so loved observing grass breaking through the cracks on the sidewalks ever since i was a little girl for some reason-it seems to be such a vibrant view and a fascinating process and that even natural grass can come through the hard concrete of the sidewalk! 🙂 I just so love and appreciate your great and open sharing on the heartfelt conversation with your dear friend and how as you began a sentence with the very apt words, "I feel as though…," and employed the same questioning and careful tone that our Millenials often use that you're sharing and declaring here that those so cool in spirit and Spirit Millenials much of the time have such earnestness in what they're saying but may not be actually saying something definite and factually accurate as they don't want to be held too strongly to what they're saying(like with being confronted on Facebook and other Social Media). WOW, this is just cool here as you talk about the very common phrases our Millenials say such as, "I want to say," and, " I feel as though." I think that we all of all ages in some ways do the same thing that our Millenials do and want to express ourselves without coming up against a strict and diligent Fact Finder! LOL! YOU ARE so, so very right, though, this communication style by our Millenials as they process and communicate their very thoughts and ideas in a kind of indefinite way without necessarily wanting to be held to being absolutely correct and factual IS very much indeed a trait of our awesome Millenials. The communication style and humor of Millenials are intriguing to me and make me curious and even sometimes confused. I don't know sometimes what they're trying to say and what their point is but this only happens at times not all of the time. I so love, deeply admire, like, and respect our darling Millenials! 🙂 <3 My and our brilliant, amazing, and remarkable sistah and friend, Patricia, you have such keenly astute and acute power of observation here as you share and declare all of your very true points about our dearest Millenials!!!!! WOW!!!!! WOW here!!!!! And your very clear-cut sagacity with such perspicacity continues as you very sweetly with such spiritual attunement and discernment write about how in the polarized and harsh times we have now in which people are battling both figuratively and literally with one another that we must try with all urgency and sincerity to love each other and to interact with those we disagree with with more love, patience, openmindedness, with such a beautiful, precious, and special sweet heart and spirit because as you say with the very stroke of genius,"…if we've really got it going on, Love is something worth working on?" YOU ARE so, so very right on, sistahfriend, Patricia!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Love in these instances is very vitally urgent, important, and necessary to reach out in love and respect when there is stark disagreement and volatile conflict. AWWWWWWW, darling Patricia, YOU ARE such a good woman of such faith, a good woman of such spirit and Spirit, a good woman of Good who has such deep wisdom and a very beautiful and precious, special heart, mind, soul, and spirit, sisterfriend!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Sister, I'm just bursint with such delightfully eager anticipation to tell you something else. I love to listen to the NPR Show, On Point, that comes out of your beautiful Boston's NPR station. Sometimes I miss hearing the show which I just so love so I then look for the archives of the show on the Web. When I accessed the archives of the shows I misses I found out by sheer and blessed joyous surprise that I can access the entire WBUR Boston NPR stations at all times as well on my computer!!!!!! WOW, I am just so, so very overjoyed, thrilled, happy, and glad about this!!!!! What a sheer and so joyous, immense blessing!!!!! As I listen to WBUR I think and say to myself that YOU are probably at this exact same moment listening in as well and what a blessed and great feeling that is to be in communion and community with YOU, sistahfriend, listening to WBUR at the same time!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!! YAY!!!!!! YAY for YOU, Patricia!!!!!! WOW!!!!! YAY!!!!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!!!!! YAY for our very sisterhood and friendship, Patricia!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!! YAY!!!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!!! I thank-YOU and Spirit CONTINUALLY FOR YOU AND FOR YOUR VERY PRESENCE IN MY VERY LIFE, PATRICIA!!!!!!! 🙂 <3 I love YOU so, so very much, and just so, so very much cherish YOU, Patricia, my darling friend, and YOU ARE my very life's and eternal blessings FOR ALWAYS, sistah!!!!!!! Spirit so, so very much loves and cherishes you so, so very much A WHOLE LOT AND A WHOLE BUNCH FOR ALWAYS AND SO DO I, TOO, A WHOLE LOT AND A WHOLE BUNCH FOR ALWAYS, Patricia!!!!!!! 🙂 <3 YOU ARE just the very greatest and the very best and such the very, very epitome of such overall awesomeness, Patricia!!!!!!! YOU ARE FOR ALWAYS such a joy and a blessing, Patricia!!!!!! Please have such a superbly super Saturday, wondrously wonderful rest of your weekend and week ahead, and may all of your very days be so, so vey especially blessed!!!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW, I feel even better and brighter with even more greatly added cheer after reading and responding to with all of my heartfelt, detailed, and thorough comments to your energizing and enlivening, salient, succinct, and cogent blog post article!!!!! WOW!!!!! WOW here!!!!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!!!!! 🙂 <3
Very Warmly and Sincerely FOR ALWAYS, my so, so very FOR ALWAYS awesomely special and dearly precious soul sistahfriend Christian Quaker white woman who you're FOR ALWAYS so, so very much, Patricia, sisterfriend of mine, with SUCH PEACE AND LOVE FOR YOU FOR ALWAYS, sister of mine, AND WITH SUCH BLESSINGS AND SUCH VERY EVEN MORE BLESSINGS FOR YOU FOR ALWAYS, friend of mine, 🙂 <3
YOURS FOR ALWAYS, soul sistahfriend Christian black woman AND FOR ALWAYS IN THE VERY GREAT SPIRIT OF UNITY AND SOLIDARITY, Sherry Gordon in Iowa City, Iowa 🙂 <3