Dorrier Underwood

On the court, a broken agreement creates upset. For an agreement that has few immediate or known consequences, I might pretend there’s no upset because my pulse doesn’t race uncontrollably and I have no urge to smack whoever broke the agreement. I might convince myself that, indeed, I am taking it remarkably well, and after all there were probably extenuating circumstances, and so on and so forth.  Oh dear no. On the court, a broken agreement creates upset. Period. Even if I have no physical reactions (or murderous ones), there is a small tear in the fabric of the relationship.  I promised Nancy I’d call someone today, and I didn’t. I not only didn’t call, I didn’t even notice I didn’t call until she said something. My immediate reaction was that of a child—embarrassed, angry at myself and angry at being caught.  Knee-jerk, bloodstream chemical-jerk. How long have I been investigating this? Forty years, give or take? Shouldn’t I be able to manage my react...

A couple of weeks ago I happened to catch the tail end of The Rachel Maddow Show. She ended the show as she always does….”Stay tuned for The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.  Tonight he returns from his three months of battling back from his accident and he has some thought provoking and moving stories to tell from his journey.” Okay, I didn’t really know he had been gone.  How would I,  not being a regular follower of MSNBC?  I was curious and decided to watch longer. Mildly, Lawrence began, “As you can see, I am not wearing a tie tonight and most anchormen always wear ties. And real anchormen don’t cry on their show, either.  It’s not acceptable; if we did, we would make the stories about ourselves.  Heaven forbid, we teach America that it’s okay for its leaders to suppress emotion.  Well, I am not going to wear a tie tonight and I don’t promise not to cry.” He had me now.  What in the world? Where was he going with this? Lawrence ...