Real Time With Miss Sophie

Stop, Hammer time.

Disclaimer 1: This post has no particular occasion. I've been wanting to write about this topic for quite some time now, I estimate roughly for the past seventeen years or so.

Disclaimer 2: What I'm writing below is rooted in a belief in Ingeborg Bachmann's axiom that the truth is reasonable for mankind ("Die Wahrheit ist dem Menschen zumutbar").

In this particular instance, the truth is reasonable for me. I'd very much prefer the truth to anything not the truth. In almost all cases, anyway. That doesn't mean you need to speak the truth to me twentyfourseven, although I invite you to do so. All I want to say is: Do not fear. Do not think about my feelings. Do not be gentle or kind. (Do not go gentle into that good night.) To do so would be to underestimate me. I've grown, I'm growing, and I've learned that I can handle a lot. I might need to take a second. I might need to swallow and digest. I might need some time. But I'll deal. Especially because I'll know what I'm dealing with. So please, people, mutet mir die Wahrheit zu. Anything else I'll view as cowardice in the form of patronizing chivalry disguised as well-meaning concern. (By the way: "Well-meaning" is the deathblow to anyone trying to mean well.)

So shape up or ship out.

This has been Real Time With Miss Sophie.

Come see us next week for Real Time With Miss Sophie: The Retraction Edition.