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By C. Jake Williams. March 7, 2008
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During a religious discussion with a female I explained my opinion that belief in an afterlife makes each of our decisions less important. Basically, if you have eternity to make decisions, experience consequences, and formulate responses then no decision can be of much import. It's like dividing any number by infinity: the result is zero. Conversely, if we have a finite time on Earth then each decision is divided by that finite temporal element, the result being some scaled and measured importance.
The girl was not swayed to my greener-grass side of the fence, but the debate was nonetheless enjoyable. I've reflected upon that conversation and formed another idea, non-religious in nature.
At gunpoint, I'd guess the length of the average conversation, like when two people meet at a bus stop or friends call one another to make date arrangements, is somewhere in the 250-word ballpark. How much can you say in 250 words? More importantly, how much do you say in 250 words?
I don't intend to pressure every sentence you utter, but in all fairness we could all use a little conversational training, couldn't we. A relaxing conversation is great, but I think we should all spend a moment's energy monitoring how we say what we say when face-to-face with family and friends.
After all, "Brevity: Soul's Wit."
You were there.