A long time ago, I was conditioned to repeat lines from a famous TV show – “inch by inch, step by step, slowly I turned…” – some of you may recognize this series of lines from the Three Stooges.
I recall it had something to do with Niagara Falls. (Now does it ring a bell?)
Never the less, some of you may have never, like me, seen the scene; for whatever reason.
- Maybe the show was not on when you were a kid.
- Maybe your parents didn’t let you watch it.
- Maybe it was too slap-stick and violent.
- Maybe you think they had silly names.
- Maybe you didn’t think it was funny.
No matter. That isn’t the point. Sometimes, things, like learning lines from a show, and being able to repeat them when prompted – taking turns to say the next line (like Pavlov maybe, or an unwitting actor in a play you didn’t know you were in) can happen.
How often does that happen?
How often to we repeat things we have heard, whether we know them to be true or where they came from and what they really mean?
Today, in recent times, what is happening, whether unwittingly to us or complicitly – is happening, inch by inch – and not so slowly. One day, I fear, we will turn around and not even recognize where we are or where we live. When that happens, it won’t be even a tiny bit funny and it will feel bitter cold, too I bet.
~ Dawn aka Hat Girl