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"Do you think you need to learn to ignore here, too?"
"I think I do, Director."
"Well, you can practice with me."
"What do you mean?"
"The next time we see one another I'll bring with me a friend who is a fine man but sometimes says things I have to ignore. You can observe how it do it, and afterwards you and I will review over a beer."
"But is that fair to your friend?"
"Ignoring him?"
"No, talking about him behind his back like that."
"Hmm. Maybe I should tell him that I'm ignoring him right when he says certain things and then, then and there, explain to him why?"
"Shouldn't you do something like that one-on-one with him and not with me there?"
"Your concern for his feelings and what is appropriate is admirable. But how will you learn?"
"Do I say things you ignore?"
"Not very often. I'm afraid you won't be much help to yourself. So, what do you think? Do you want to learn from my friend? If I think it appropriate to tell him when I'm ignoring him and why, I will do so. But otherwise you just watch and we'll discuss it afterwards. Ours will be a respectful conversation, respectful to my friend, and I'll explain to you how I've tried help him make it so he says less and less that I must ignore. He's made some progress, you know."
"Alright. Thanks. Hey, look! We're at the end of the trail. You know, we never answered if people can be happy through evil means."
"Meeting my friend will be a good way for us to start to answer that question. He's used a few questionable means in his time and is paying the price, as will be obvious to you. We should ask him what he thinks. I believe this will prove to be interesting to all three of us."
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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com
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