I’m currently reading PASSIONATE MINDS: WOMEN REWRITING THE WORLD by Claudia Roth Pierpont. The chapter I just finished is on Zora Neale Hurston, my imaginary anthropologist/author girlfriend. She was a bemusing, heroic, complicated woman who came to racial hatred second-hand until she was grown, having been born and raised (okay, I know it’s “born and reared”, but “born and raised” is how I grew up saying it)…. I lost my place. Oh, yeah — Her home town was founded and entirely populated by Black people.
She said it astounded her when people discriminated against her.
“How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company?”
This post is part of Linda G. HillÂ’s weekly blog hop, One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner or just like them, follow the link.
A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Someone loses out by being an asshole.
MA
Michael Hodges
March 16, 2022 at 1:07pm*and life continued forward WITH A SHARED VENUE, other times most definitely not.
I didn’t die when an apology wasn’t accepted. I’m not playing your upstairs radio.
Marian Allen
March 16, 2022 at 1:41pmLOL! No, I’m still convinced it’s Mr. Butt, our ghost.
Michael Hodges
March 16, 2022 at 1:05pmI know some have lost out on being part of my world by being assholes.
I’ve certainly been an asshole at times in my life and lost out on being part of other worlds.
But being an asshole is about half about being ignorant (which is different from being stupid), and about half being aware and doing a thing anyway (which is precisely like being stupid). I’ve been labeled an asshole for making a stand in much the same way I’ve been labeled a troublemaker. Didn’t matter if I turned out to be right, the label stuck.
I’ve been labeled an asshole by people who never met or spoke with me. No kidding.
“Oh, that guy’s a real asshole.”
“What? I know him. Why do you think he’s an asshole?”
“I dunno, I just do.”
“Have you ever met him?”
“I don’t want to. He’s a fuckin’ asshole.”
That takes a special kind of asshole, y’reckon?
I’ve gone back and apologized for being an asshole, later recognizing my own behavior, whether errant or immature. Sometimes the apology was accepted and life continued forward, other times most definitely not.
There’s a difference between being a young, dumb, selfish and headstrong kid, and being an asshole. But from the other side, they sure do look a lot alike, don’t they?
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt
March 16, 2022 at 11:32amBeing liked by everyone is exhausting. I’ll settle for a couple of million readers like you, and a bunch of friends at our retirement community. That’s hard enough.
I persuaded a couple of book bloggers to try Purgatory – let’s see if it actually happens that there are some new reviews. ‘Twould be nice.