The Academic's Burden

You want to know what I would love to do more than anything else in the world (short of having a thesis fairy write my dissertation for me)?

I want to be able to answer questions with a simple yes or no.

There is a biblical precedent for this, Jesus said "let your yes be yes and your no be no." Jesus never met a PhD student.

It seems this problem spreads, it began in classes. For example the professor would say "Do you think there should be a separation between church and state." I could say yes or no, but instead I say...

"Weeeeeeellllllll, it depends, we can impose artifical separation on arbitrarily constructed categories that are a product of 17th century enlightenment thinking but the reality is any modern form of the state that exists today developed from and/or with religion, a such the state and religion are already inextribably combined. And this doesn't even begin to address what happens when the state becomes religion."

You may see this pattern in yourself and justify my answer by telling me that in reality it is a complex question that deserves more than a yes or no answer, but remember...it spreads Dun-Dun-DUN

My mom asked if I wanted pants for Chritmas I got into a discussion about sweat shops and ideal body types. My husband asked if we should start gardening, I answered with a discussion about weather patterns. A man on the road asked me if I knew how to drive...I told him to...well that doesn't really count.

The final straw...."did you want fries with that?" Want to know something, a waitress doesn't really care what you think about trans fats.

So I have a new goal, learn to say yes and no again and let that be enough. Is this a feasible or realistic project? Well, that depends.....