Quote: Stars

Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to ......

..... while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.

To me, this quotation from Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary says it all about those times when you feel obliged to say something, anything, but when words really don't feel like enough.

When rather than leaving an awkward silence, you hear yourself beating out those tunes on a cracked kettle, uttering some old meaningless platitude then hoping you haven't made things worse.

However, shortly after making a note of that quote I found myself in exactly that situation, I had to talk to someone about a serious situation and was terrified of the consequences of saying the wrong thing.

Afterwards I noted in my journal that while what I'd said would probably not have moved any stars to pity .... I'd said something when saying something, anything was needed. I wrote that while it may have been a bit "cracked kettles and dancing bears, this must be infinitely preferable to dancing language and cracked bears. I'll take the cracked kettle please".

Thanks for reading today,

Julie

Photo details: Outdoor sculpture at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The first shows a close-up of a bronze hare in which was embedded lots of odd items, such as the little toy coffee pot!