Cut to the Chase

Love. But only in the background. Too many interactions end up like this, with the real feelings hidden and the easy ones revealed. Love is hard. Happiness is easy. Anguish is hard. Sadness is easy. There's another dimension lurking beneath the surface.

Like an empty chair, our conversations serve a purpose. They allow us to communicate with our contemporaries and to confront our enemies, to advise our students and thank our teachers. Like an empty chair, our conversations could be put to better use.

The targets of our words are a little blurry, obscured by all the pleasantries. Is that person standing in front of you really good or fine or okay? Or is there more to the story? Our phatic beginnings to conversations are the largest contributor to the fuzzy connections we make. Let's get to the point, right? Get the small talk out of the way. We're all too used to shooting the breeze to cut it out completely, but come on, let's get to the good stuff.

If we do, maybe the love will come out of the background, along with all the bright colors and sharp lines and artistic creations that come with it. Get rid of the empty chair and the fuzziness, like calling from a landline instead of a cell phone, and you see so much more. What's behind the chair? What's behind the person? I wish we could see.