Oh Be Careful Little Mind What You Think

 Wotta-mistaka-to-maka, !!!       misunderstanding on a nuclear scale  !!!

What i wrote in the note was 

"Goodbye,  i hope you are happy now you are back in your beloved village."

                                              what i meant was

"Goodbye, i hope you are happy now you are back in your much loved village."

                                            what she read was

GOODBYE,  i hope you are happy NOW!  back in your precious village"

Isn't language a mine-field, especially when it's written rather than spoken.    our humanity has this nasty trick of hearing what we THINK a person intends and,  if by nature we aren't one of the earth's sunnier souls, like the recipient of my well intentioned moving home card, it's too easy to perceive the intention as criticism  rather than kindly.   There probably wasn't anything i could have written that would have conveyed warm future  wishes  in a manner that wasn't fraught with possible double entendre but it would, also, have been seen as a crime against humanity if i hadn't tried.

Of course, it doesn't help if you are cursed with an idiosyncratic turn of phrase.     i blame my mother, as people say i speak just like her,  and you can't live with someone for 16 years without picking up a style or two along the way.   she would have enjoyed swearing in Russian too, in fact she was half way there as she used Russian names when invective was required.    you have to admit there's something deeply satisfying in spitting Vladimir Ashkhenazi or Vladivostok.......try typing it without hammering the keys......impossibles !!

Anyway.......if there's a moral to my tale of woeful miscommunication  it's multi faceted........first of all,  the world isn't out to get you, and even if it is,  don't  succumb to  the temptation of  letting on that  success is  in sight.

Secondly, hold before you the old children's song "Oh be careful little hands/feet/mind    what/where/how   you  do/go/think."  do you remember it?   the pure simplicity of sentiment would silence the most philosophical  of philosophers.    out of the mouths of babes and infants shall come forth the wisdom of the ages.......along with an annoyingly unforgettable melody that takes up board and lodging at the back of the cerebellum and keeps you awake all week.

Thirdly,  if you find yourself putting nefarious motives on to things others say it might be worth asking where that comes from?    is it possible the suspicion and negativity come from the way YOU respond to others and you are simply seeing a reflection of yourself?     not very attractive is it?