Tag Archives: eyeball

Breathtaking

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Breathtaking: (adj) astonishing or awe-inspiring in quality

Always set it low so you can get high.

I’m talking about your “breathtaking meter.”Dictionary B

There is nothing greater, more spine-chilling and exciting than having your breath taken away. The only trouble is, we become easily jaded and start looking at breathtaking events as common.

In doing this, we remove the majority of the joy from our existence and demand that the Universe impress us–as the Universe stands by, waiting to be impressed.

Sitting in a parking lot, I watched a young boy about ten years old eyeball an old lady, who was pushing her cart. He paused, started to walk away, but then turned and offered his help.

I continued to view this glorious scene as he made it to her car, loaded her groceries into the hatchback, and when she offered him money, he refused. As he turned and started to walk away, overwhelmed by the glory of his own deed, he started skipping.

It was breathtaking.

  • It was not the Grand Canyon.
  • It was not Niagara Falls.

But it was in front of me, it was truly unusual, and it was a feast for my eyes, which are always trying to darken the view.

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Add

Words from Dic(tionary)

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Add: (v) join something to something else so as to increase the size, number or amount.

“There is something I’d like to add.” Or “there is nothing I have to add.”

I like both of those statements. If truthfully delivered, they mean that you have quietly taken a position a few feet AWAY from the conflict of life and have eyeballed where your available abilities might be of use or might end up useless.

It’s a powerful thing.

Without that kind of consideration, we have a world in which everyone piles on, never considering the value of their contribution; or else folks demurely stand in the shadows for fear of being presumptuous.

Would you allow me to analyze a really significant profile for being valuable?

1. Shut up long enough that you can listen to what is really going on.

2. Don’t respond to your first inkling to leap forward. There still may be one bit of information to be unfolded that you need to consider.

3. Make sure you can deliver what you’re about to offer.

4. Determine that you’re certain that you have nothing that’s worthy of contribution.

5. Speak softly to guarantee that the room becomes silent enough to appreciate your inclusion.

6. Follow through.

There you go.

I wonder what would happen if we actually demanded this venerable process from our leaders. Would it be possible that we could have a coalition … instead of a collision?

Accustomed

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Accustomed: (v.) to make someone or something accept something as normal or usual

“I’ve grown accustomed to your face … ”

Yes, that beautiful song spoken by Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady.

Of course, the play itself is a total chauvinist romp, with men supreme and women apparently fortunate to be able to place slippers upon their feet. Well, that’s my point.

It would be very difficult for this generation of young humans to grow accustomed to My Fair Lady–not just the “face” of it but also the theme and ideas.

We are actually being asked to adapt to many new ideas at a breakneck speed, so as to promote the agenda of some group or another, and generally speaking, the process by which we are encouraged to thrust our thinking forward is via guilt instead of mercy.

I guess that’s all right. Some people would say the end justifies the means, as long as one group gets civil rights or another idea gets an airing–what do we really care about the procedure by which it was promoted?

But honestly, I would like the chance to get “accustomed” to an idea out of the tenderness of my own soul, and express my mercy instead of being laden with guilt over being backward in my thinking, or even stupid. Is the real way to get people accustomed to new ideas or changes in attitude to mock them or make them feel ridiculous and ancient?

I don’t know.

  • Would we ever have done away with slavery if it had been our choice to keep slaves?
  • Would we have ever given women the right to vote if it had not been referred to as “suffrage,” with ladies marching in the street?
  • Would the Civil Rights Act have been voted in if we had sat around, allowing time to pass, giving the idea a season of contemplation?

So the word “accustomed” is really misleading. It connotes that we eyeball something, mull it over in our minds and come to intelligent conclusions. That’s not really how things change.

I think music would probably still be Frank Sinatra and John Phillips Sousa if the British invasion had not literally planted a flag of rebellion in the soil of the United States, demanding attention.

Sometimes I think I’m too polite with my ideas, and that I might fare better if I screamed them. Unfortunately for my own self-promotion, I’m not much of a screamer–and in an age when “unreasonable” seems normal, an attempt to be reasonable seems fruitless.

So to grow “accustomed to your face” today means that I see it all over commercials, news programs, magazines, talk shows and flyers–until I am forced to accept the validity of your presence.

It may not be as enriching as a good conversation, but it would be difficult to deny its effectiveness.