Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

When something does not hold up to rational analysis, any excuse or any reason is as good as another. And when no excuse or reason comes to mind now, we will think of something later.

A recent xkcd cartoon had a wonderful punchline, “No, for another reason I’ll think of later.”

The punchline was in response to a question about why someone did or did not do something or other. The reply was, “No.” When asked for a reason, well, there was no handy reason, so one would come later.

Many years ago, an old man (probably my current) age told a story to a very young man (me at the time). The story was something like:

A fella’ asked me if he could borrow my lawn mower on Saturday. I told him no because I was going to the grocery store. He asked what “going to the grocery store” had to do with borrowing a lawn mower. I told him, nothing, but if I don’t want you to borrow my lawn mower, any excuse is as good as any other.

Same idea. If the answer is “no” or “yes,” the excuses or reasons really won’t matter. The only thing that matters is “no” or “yes.”

When will gathering places open to 100% capacity with no distancing?

Some day real soon now.

Will it be because of a vaccine? Herd immunity? A challenger defeating an incumbent in an election? Climate change? Cold weather? Hot weather?

I doubt any of the above will be the reason. In the end, it will be for another reason we will all think of later.