Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Sometimes, you have to work hard to untangle what someone is trying to convey. Then again, if their words are tangled, maybe they don’t have anything to convey.

I spend much of my days untangling the words of others. Long documents; long talks, and the like. What is that person trying to convey? Print the document with a wide margin. Note key words and phrases. Draw pencil lines connecting similar thoughts. Key on the active words. Find the message!

Sometimes if the other person, the person who tangled everything, tangled all the words, they didn’t have a cogent thought to express. Perhaps all that tangling indicates confusion.

Untangling can reveal the key thought. Untangling can also reveal confusion. Which is which? I wish I knew ahead of time. Still, that’s the task at hand. Give it a good effort and either learn the idea or learn that the person could use some advising and assistance.