Better Late than Clever
09/17/2005 03:50 a.m.
This happens to me all the time. And I know it happens to others. I use to have this friend who hid no emotions, and he would actually silently reenact the scene on his face while he was driving and thought no one was looking at him.
It seems like I will hear something in a conversation that really hits a nerve (in a good way or bad way) and hours to days later I will then think of something really good to say. Something clever, or kind, or mean, or something that would have just felt so gooooood to say. For example, I was at a party last weekend in Austin, and this older gentleman was talking to me. I don't know why, but he was talking to me like I've been his best friend for years - completely comfortable to say anything. This happens to me often, and you may think this is good, but it isn't when the person's heart is ugly and obnoxious. He made fun of black people, then told me this story about how he verbally accosted this handicapped man who was working for the government. He was mad about paying his taxes, and the man behind the desk visibly used crutches. So although it was completely irrelevant, he yelled at the guy that the only reason he had his job was because he was a "gimp".
I said nothing about the racial comments because he is an elder, a friend of my mother's, and I felt I needed to respect him. And to the story about the "gimp", all I asked was how did he get back to the topic of taxes.

What I should have said since this gentleman seemed to like me so, was "My husband is in a wheelchair, and he is African American. Do you suppose he got his job because of those two qualities, or do you think it was his Ph.D. and years of service in the military?"

I am currently Clueless
I am listening to Trumpets