Which Way Do You Lean?

Would you rather indulge yourself in the service of a fine hotel

Or camp in a quiet aspen grove

Would you take an adventure in a guided raft

Or go kayaking with some friends

Is it more enjoyable to order up at an expensive restaurant

Or to cook good food in your own home kitchen

Would it be better to have a new car very soon because it feels so good

Or to get the old one fixed up for a couple more years of service

Would you rather have neat, green and well-manicured bluegrass

Or a healthy un-mown assemblage of fairly-wild, native plants

Would you like to try the tender, tied-down, milk-fed veal

Or our free-range, no-antibiotic chicken

Shall we lay on the beach in our new bikinis

Or walk down the coast to that empty cove

Do you want to explore all the shops we saw coming in

Or take the steep hike on up to the waterfall

Are you having the pancakes with sausage and eggs

Or the crusty fresh bread with butter and jam

Would you rather get cleaned up and go out for happy hour

Or hike up to the overlook in time for the sunset

Would you be more likely to paint your toenails

Or to go for a ride on your mountain bike

Do you always buy the latest model snowboard brand new

Or can you be happy with a demo from the season before

Would you prefer to make a new acquaintance here in town

Or go on a trip to somewhere that you’ve never been

Do you like to stay up until 2 in the morning

Or do you usually try and get up before the sun rises

Would you pop in your ear buds

Or listen to the wind in the trees

Do you study the scriptures for structured and concrete answers

Or try to decipher the mysteries of science

Would you rather hop on your snarling dirt bike or ATV

Or ride off on a bicycle to a trailhead leading to the wilderness

Do you picture yourself with a nice tombstone in a peaceful cemetery

Or do you see a tree planted in the woods, fed by your remains

Would you really like a brand new home

Or would you prefer something older with a little character

Do you believe that unfettered capitalism will naturally yield us the brightest future

Or do you feel that planning and foresight is required for tomorrow

Would you like easier access and urban services in our parks and our forests

Or is it vitally important to preserve our wild places intact for the future

Would you like to skim across the water on a powerful jet ski

Or catch every bit of a breeze on a finely-rigged sailboat

Is your path chiseled in stone after prayers for guidance

Or would you change your views based on new information

Would you rather drive really fast with the radar detector on full alert

Or kick back and save gas while enjoying the scenery

Would you like to pop off your lounge chair and into the pool

Or walk down through the trees and jump in the lake

Would you first get your wrinkles treated

Or have your eyes surgically repaired

Would you rather a piece of rich chocolate dessert

Or an extra helping of that delicious main course

Is Europe quaint, but politically old-fashioned, and pretty irrelevant

Or should we bond more tightly with those with whom we share blood

Would you rather have a beer with friends and watch the big game

Or sip a little red wine and maybe take in a foreign movie

Do you like to discuss opportunities to cash in on insider real estate deals

Or castigate those who took artificial home equity to pay off their credit cards

Would you prefer to remain focused on keeping things as affordable as possible

Or changing our habits to attain a sustainable society lifestyle

Are you at peace with your faith regarding your everlasting soul

Or do you ponder briefly the unknowable in the onrushing void

Do you believe in man’s God-given dominion over this earth and all its creatures

Or is that likely only a selfish rationalization for destruction and torture

Would you rather remain a lifelong conservative, holding fast to traditional values

Or can you tolerate ambiguity and willingly toss aside wornout beliefs

Do you enjoy driving to the health club to read on the treadmill

Or do you walk around your neighborhood to get a little exercise

Do you know how the market is doing and where interest rates are going today

Or are you spending too much time sorting dirty trash for pointless recycling

Do you spot opportunities for a quick profit as you happen to drive by

Or do you see meaningful images on old tree trunks and incised on mossy boulders

Can you build consensus and share a team vision going forward

Or do you prefer small hardworking groups with unspoken communication

When you go skiing do you want the sun to always be shining

Or are you quite happy when it is snowing like hell

Would you rather take the quiet comfort of faith about all things you do not understand

Or burn out in the unbelievable miracle of every waking moment

Is That Guy On Tacitril Or What!?

It really should go without saying...

It really is an absolute wonder drug that finally turned my life right around, so much for the better

Now I know when to keep to good silence instead of shooting off my stupid mouth once again

No more do I suffer the after-effects of unreasoned outbursts that I could not Even control

I no longer bore and anger my co-workers with my irrelevant ramblings at their Big Meetings

I can serenely sit back as others go way overboard, far off the deep end and never shut up

Tacitril has taught me to say so much more, simply by talking far, far less

I even started hearing a lot of the other randomly excess noise with which we fill the world

Now I realize that silence is no frightening void that I must forever try to fill with verbal spam

A daily dose and I’ve stopped yelling at those hateful, cosmetically-enhanced anchor people

I lost the urge to keep making up lame questions, vainly trying to assure myself that I’m smart

It’s really been helpful to silently let others trail off alone into the weeds of foolish nonsense

Merely remaining quiet has become a great weapon which creates confusion in my superiors

I simply don’t have that fool need to recap, rehash and re-iterate like I used to anymore

I just let the kids and the wife talk themselves off into stammered, evaporating mumbles

Yes, I nod my head, but not in agreement, merely acknowledging that I heard what my boss said

Every meeting reinforces my stillness as I filter their compulsive, but empty, chatter

Talking in circles around the point just to hear my own voice is no longer satisfying for me

It’s easy to forgo pointless sidetracking of important discussions just to show that I am present

I can detect their BS more quickly now since I’m not always only thinking about what I will say next

Sometimes my reticence even provokes a satisfying rise from those who simply cannot be still

Now I find my silence as full of meaning as anything I could ever have hoped to blurt out

I find it as pointless to try and have the last word as to talk over our incessant and vapid noise

I forgot what it’s like to lay awake just wishing that I could have kept my stupid mouth shut

I’m satisfied just hearing the movers and the shakers hanging themselves out to dry, again

I cut out the preambles, the redundant flourishes and repetitive conclusions from my speech

I respond to their frothy clarion calls to corporate boldness with a politely expectant silence

It’s easy to deny them the pleasure of empty, long-winded responses by withholding dumb questions

No longer do I erupt irrationally because my blood pressure is too high and heart rate too fast

Nowadays, I’m far more likely to think “I’m glad I didn’t say that” than “I wish I’d said that”

I lost the sorry need to try and sell other’s scripted soundbites via my own constant repetition

Happily, I no longer bother attempting to talk over those who have interrupted me, once again

No more parroting sports stats, movie lines, advertising slogans or political catchphrases for me

Don’t sarcastically back-sass cops until they finally just decide to write me up real good

Politely ask the telemarketers to wait and leave them on hold, instead of yelling and blustering

Sure, I’m still angry, insecure, confused, scared and nervous, but I don’t have to broadcast it

I have learned that silence really is a very simple, yet very powerful and totally unlimited blessing