I’ve never liked sitcoms, those half hour situational comedy shows. Their predictability was un-nerving. The plot was the same no matter what show was playing. Someone did something stupid and spent the rest of the show trying to undo the damage while no one found out. And the ending was also the same: everyone found out. I grew to despise Beaver because had he just been honest from the beginning Ward wouldn’t have lectured him at the end. Yep, another 30 minutes of my life wasted.

Obviously, I don’t watch sitcoms now, haven’t for decades. I prefer a good ole who-done-it or a documentary. I know, I am boring. I’m just over the whole immature antics that occupy half hour time slots on the good old boob tube. I prefer a little depth.

The whole show comes down to one moment of dishonesty. I don’t necessarily mean a lie, but rather miscommunication. And instead of clarifying this misunderstanding the characters end up perpetuating it. The length of which the characters go to has always boggled me. Actually it offended me and here’s why: all of the angst among the characters, all the dancing around the truth, all of the misdirection, all of the disappointment, when it was all over nothing would be as it was. A bit of trust was lost, along with a bit of respect. Maybe not between the fictional characters but definitely between me and the show.

I was about 10 years old when I had lost all respect. Actually I lost all patience. I love simplicity but in a layered form. I enjoy peeling back the layers to expose a well thought out plot. Sitcoms were and are intended to last a short time hence there’s not much thought and not much depth. I truly enjoy the investment in time. I know, I’m boring.

“Where is she going with this?” Here’s where I am going: I see this half hour plot played out constantly in the world around me. I see a simple mistake, a simple misspoken word or poorly chosen noun or verb, a blunderous miscommunication create distrust and disappointment, change opinions, wrongly influence, and often end events without success.

This plot, this misspoken word, it’s the beginning and the end is often some level of agitation. Lack of adequate communication can wreak so much havoc, bring about so much pain. Fortunately I rarely see the plot play out to such devastating results, but I most often find it to be the culprit when someone is upset.

How many times has someone been caught saying “If I had only known…”? “If so & so had told me I would have…” But being the outsider Monday morning quarterbacking is often frowned upon. I get it, we don’t like to hear that our emotions are ours alone, that it’s up to us to maintain because we don’t know all of the facts.

And knowing all of this I am sometimes just as guilty as y’all out there. I’m guilty of my emotions charging ahead of the facts. I’m guilty of knowing but not knowing, being aware that life happens but only to me. Maybe not working on patience but rather we could work on remembering that life happens to more than just ourselves? As life happens let’s remember that it affects all of us.

E.T. Aka Annie