Sometimes a family story comes to the top of your head, and until you get it told, it will not go away.
Grandma and Grandpa lived on the hill heading
out of town going east for as long as I can remember. Throughout those years, the same family lived across the road. Our families were always friendly, but not what anyone would call friends. Over the years of sitting on the front steps and living in
close proximity, there was a tendency to watch each other.
As the story goes, one afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa sat in front of their house and something was going on across the way. Grandma watched with rapt interest for some amount of time and then announced her thoughts.
They were
skinnin’ fish over there.
As the story goes, this struck Grandpa in as funny
, and laughter erupted. At the end of
all of the laughing and conversation, they both decided it didn't matter what was going on across the road. But that was
the only the beginning of the story. From the moment that exchange happened until today, if the situation is similar - something is happening but you can’t tell what - a family member will say, "Well, I think they’re
skinnin’ fish.” The rest of us still laugh.
I believe one reason this came to mind today is the current state of communication in the United States. I watch it happen with friends and family. There is so much intensity on everything being said it is impossible to recognize the important from the inane. Social media platforms feed into this. I remember a friend telling me the purpose of Twitter. He told me
is was to let all of his friends know he ate a doughnut this morning. Although I think this may be a little overstated, I feel as though it is more right than wrong. People can get wound up about the most unimportant things, and honestly, they may be just
skinnin’ fish.
Two members of my family work around moving traffic. One of them work in road maintenance and repair, and one worked as a police officer. Both told stories of the bad things that happen when people aren't paying attention to the right things. In fact, for the police officer
,it was sometimes referred to as “gore gawkers.” For both family members, because people didn't pay attention to the responsibilities they had as drivers, they were not as safe.
These two things go together. If we did a better job of staying focused on what was
truly important, and
find a way to laugh at ourselves when what we
are focused on is not
really important, we might well be in a better place. This is something I've been working on. I will tell you that without exception, if you let the unimportant things roll of your back, it makes life easier to deal with.
Stop
skinnin' fish ... unless
of course, you just reeled in a fifteen-pound walleye. Have a great week and a very good Thanksgiving.
