Tag: cliche

Please meet my eyes

Jean-Baptist_Camille_Corot_Breton_Woman_With_Her_Little_Girl

corot woman

Corot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face-to-face

The face to face encounter and its ethical meaning/implications is at the heart of  the philosopher Emanuel  Levinas‘ thought.Just today I was thinking  about some events in my life which could  illustrate this.

A few months ago I went into a coffee shop and found myself just behind an ex-colleague whom  I regard [note the word] as a friend.I could see her husband sitting at the back of the cafe.She did mutter ,Hello, but  instead of  meeting me eye to eye and  saying,”my husband wants us  to be alone”,she went through an elaborate pantomime of mime indicating rejection or keep a distance…which was unpleasant.I would  have been much happier with a straightforward look and a few words.

Today I had a similar event.I met a woman who used to be my physiotherapist , again in a queue.She looked at me full on and greeted me  with pleasure.As she picked up  her tray she asked me to join her and her husband plus a grandchild.We had a pleasant time,But if she had said, we are with our family,or whatever, that would have been fine too.because she looked at me.

I am not saying the first woman ought to have done that.But what interests me is the lack of a willingness to “meet” me with her gaze.I  am entirely happy if people wish to be alone whilst the have coffee but I prefer them to say so.

Some individuals with autism are almost unable to make eye contact…. and this is because others are not real to  them,If we are near someone who will not meet our eyes,it can convey the same feeling.On the other hand, everyone has off days and so I feel no anger, just a discomfort as this woman is very articulate and highly educated.I think  perhaps her husband is quite controlling.Maybe he felt unwell.

So this made me think about Levinas whom I have read a little of but I find it difficult as I am not trained in philosophy and about Martin Buber‘s  I and Thou

There is also an expression, ”he looked right through me” which is also a negative way of facing someone.And also, cutting someone dead.This is a metaphor, of course.Perhaps once people did die if their whole tribe rejected them. So essentially not looking at someone is a form of killing them as you imply they are not part  of society.Like not responding  to someone verbally or in writing.You are saying, You do not exist.

This shows us that  a philosopher can write about something which has application in everyday life.Indeed, that is where philosophy must have originated I imagine… what is of value.

Related articles

Unless they turn to stone:Fantasy wastes the time that we don’t have.

Photo0261 2

Marry now,pray later.And before.
Work hard,pray hard and love softly.
He conquered  but never felt at home..He had blundered
Buy today,cry tomorrow.
No use locking the door  if the window is open.
Miaow now,purr later.
A cat at play keeps the doctor away.Cats bite!Rats do too.
Cats are good for the sole.
I  cleaned up Renee with a fine tooth comb… nits,what a pain  they can be for children
If you are lonely, do  listen to others.
If you have no others ,listen to the radio and /or God. and any holy people around
It’s better to meditate only if you are well grounded in reality.Do good works instead and be merciful to old fools like me.
Fantasy wastes  the time that we don’t have.Lose that ego now.
Day dreams are better when  you are asleep.I know because I have done it.
Acting selfishly is unhealthily practically.
Pardon my grammer and my spilling.
I never was no good at English except when I squeaked  it.
He said,you are not a native of London..I said, no they were  nearly all killed by the Romans  2,000 years but we don’t like to complain now.They all died anyhow.
Death is fashionable now.Everyone will do it sooner or later unless they turn to stone.
I dyed my hair white as I wanted a Freedom Pass.But who else is free  and for what?Do you enjoy grumbling too?Meet me at the bus stop at 19.87pm

Why we had fights in the UK on Black Friday

In Britain there is an hugely increasing gap between the rich,the professional and the poor.Postmen now have a zero hours contract.Coal mines have shut as have shipyards.There is not much work for the people who were once essential to the country’s economy.They are treated ever worse.
They see tbe same adverts and see how others live.The only ways they can emulate it are by borrowing or by shopping in Sales.The rest of us can choose whether to get a new TV or even a new car.They can’t.Moreover they are attacked as lazy.
Secondly the shops are doing very badly and urgently need to sell more stock.It’s been warm and so winter clothes are unsold and the recession is still not over [another one may be starting].Everyone would like a tablet and children at school are expected to have a computer at home.What do you do if you are poor?
We also have more mothers working.People don’t entertain at home much as it is too much effort.They meet in a coffee shop and most are in or near the Mall.We have immigrants from Europe who tend to go there and not the pub which is where men used to go to.
They see the shops and want some of what they see.
Some of us can avoid Sales as we can buy at normal prices or save our money.
I am certain the Mall can’t do what a Church and a community once did.But it’s a meeting place.Old folk can sit there and watch the world go by or meet a friend
Also there are security guards so women feel safer alone.
There is a place called Brent Cross… a huge mall not far from Golders Green.Many people love it
I saw a joke:A Jewish lady wants to be buried at Brent Cross…. because then her daughters will visit her every week..
.I would like to see fewer class problems and less snobbery.And to see the poor treated well.But there’s little chance of that.And we pay much less income tax now
yet want the NHS to offer expensive drugs….
It’s a crazy society.
I saw the judge in the Mitchell case thought the policeman was too dim to have invented the plebs remark……so even there he is reinforcing the idea what lower paid people are thick,stupid and gormless.
Black Friday was advertised to let the shops sell and stop them going broke…. but leave it for those wwho really need it…
Otherwise for the rest of us it’s almost psychotic to behave that way…what next?

A load of what?

Be Yourself and 5 Other Cliches
Be Yourself and 5 Other Cliches (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Image,it in the rear… no,dear.
A pain in the place de la concorde.doctor.I am too shy to say vestibule,you see.
Do you think I need elastic plagiarism?
I have a pain in the wreck of a poem
Taint yourself into a scorner of women.I don’t scare..tease yourself!
I thin kPandora’s sox fell off… then her box opened…
Caper over the cracks in the floor.. they say it’s  a new way to welcome the New Year i
Draped in tiger? Crepe divides her?Am I going blind… so they were right after all.Too much sex is not enough.Give me oil for my ramp keep me burning and boil a kettle too

Related articles

Lavender’s blue

Painted 2 My books and home 010

                  By Katherine  Marmalade October 2013

I made love to a tree with no leaves.
Well,I had no clothes on myself so I   was correct
And they say all is flair in love with a toy
Please make no groans about it
It was make love or break down for me
So don’t make out I am less than candid.
I made the glade at noon…on i tunes
And made tracks too in the grass.
I took some pics and caught no pox
I am not making it up really,it just comes in through a hole in my head
Don’t take to raving all night.I won’t heed you
And the tree trunk made your love seem out of sorts.
Why your love makes my blood feel like a coil of wire.
Faking leaves a lady aching!
Love is a phantasm with no orgasm.
No coronary spasm
is as good as a bird in a rush.
Too many books have spelled out wrath. for no reason
So roll your stone
and look for your marbles.
I’m aflame for a laugh…
That’s a free Plath for Hughes

Buy the Oxgrudge Fluke of English Birth free at Ram’s Inn
.

Keeping reality at bay

       “Clichés, stock phrases, adherence to conventional, standardized codes of expression and conduct have the socially recognized function of protecting us against reality.”
― Hannah Arendt
Related articles

Lamplight

A band and of milk and honey is passing through the UK  today then it’s all over bar the pouting
I made a last witchful effort to cast a spell on the government but I need more witches here
This coalition government is like a last charade before tears at bedtime
I laugh  for a minute i every four weeks
I  draft all  day yet feel blank like white paper.
l play around the law,I’m a crank.Sorry i am a crook.and kranky as well
I slay the bards  with my fables

Weave  your stalks into a daisy chain for the cat to play with
Grieve for  my phones as they learn Wringlish…it’s so hard to wrangle in another tongue.
He left  the altar and   ran up the tower…he wanted to marry a star, you see but he fell out and broke his crown.That was the end.
He is a fledgling under care in God’s mind but say nothing
A shepherd doesn’t design  dots when he’s feeding the flocks
I am a jester with a little  evil cat.She loved a silver fox down the lane…. so I wonder whether the Pope will let them marry as the fox is a lady?
I let bygones be wrygones

Let sleeping fog lie over all the land and give me a break!
Do let the democrat out of the bag now and then
Let’s roll over Beethoven again
Let’s split the difference… you take a breast while I have a Ball
I  am a tester with a carton of  molten gold
Picking one’s wounds makes them worse
I can lie down with a lion if it’s with a lamb
My life is just a  howl of   printer’s errors
A wife’s a crutch for the soul
The flight was in bed weather

Blight at the end of the tunnel is just too much for moles and souls.
A light  over the sofa stops teens from over-cuddling
Writing a note  never occurs to the same guest twice

The lights are on but there’s  a  nobody  at home….it’s our unknown ghost
My light’s gone out with a lamp
She was like Mrs Thatcher at a Miners’ Hop.. catch my drift?

Can you read beween my whines?

If not send a complaint  to me below the belt.

At fruitcake@nutty.com

or drunkasanewt@btintermet.con

finally

madammad@deadsnail.comeheresweetbabyjane.org