Cut to the chase: (slang) come to the point

A sly smile crept across his face, like a caterpillar on a chilly morning.

He was so sure of himself.

Having asked me the question, “What is it you need from me?” I began to explain my goals. I wasn’t even two sentences in when he interrupted curtly and said, “Could you cut to the chase?”

He felt so mature—deeming himself adult and communicating that his time was so valuable that he couldn’t allot any extra moments for me to offer finer details of my dreams.

He waited for me to be offended. I was offended.

But at the same time, I didn’t want to cast my pearls of promise in front of his pig-like certainty.

So rather than cut to the chase—taking something sacred to me and turning it into a Fruit of the Loom’s brief—I bowed my head and quietly walked away without saying a word.

He called after me, trying to apologize, saying that he “didn’t realize I was so sensitive.”

Perhaps a day will come when we no longer believe that acting brutish and uncaring is a sign of maturity.

Can we allow others the opportunity to open their hearts?

Or must we dominate and forbid them the dignity for their vision?