September 13th, 2012
The first thing I said to myself this morning was “OK, what do we have to do today?” A few minutes later, while feeding the dogs, the puppy (who, at 54 pounds, is a puppy only in mentality) jumped on me and I spilled her dog food. “You idiot!” I told myself. “You should have been ready for that!”
I went upstairs to my office; “Do we have any email today?” After that, I did a little programming, warning myself at one point, “Don’t you dare leave that statement uncommented; you’ll regret it later!”
A bit later a voice said, “You’re getting tired; I think it’s time we change gears.”
“OK, fine, what should we do instead?”
“Have you noticed that you refer to yourself in the plural?”
“Yes, I’ve been struck by that realization. I wonder why I do it? Do you think it’s a “royal we”?
“Naah, there’s nothing arrogant in it; it’s more a matter of thinking style.”
“Be careful here, Chris – don’t sweep a possible character flaw under the rug.”
“No, I think we’re safe here; this internal conversation maintains many points of view and keeps us honest.”
“Maybe we should write it up in an essay; that often helps sort out the issues.”
So we did.