Trouble ahead for a young man in an earnest group discussion. The topic has shifted to a region with which he is quite unfamiliar. Not only that but it is regarding a precarious development about which he has only skimmed a headline.
But his three peers appear to be well-read scholars on the whole matter. They’ve been responsible for carrying this conversation for a while now, with the young man occasionally grunting in agreement with whoever was speaking at the time. But now, it is his turn.
“Yes, well. W-what I would say about this whole thing. As per my reading. Which is extensive by the way. Um well, there have been so many developments lately, just one after the other, am I right? Yes. The situation in that region seems fairly complex.”
What a cop-out.
None of his peers seem to have read deeply into his poor excuse for insight. Lukewarm nods are what they provided, and then with nary a thought, steamrolled ahead to another freshly uncovered information about that situation in that region.
After that he was left to ruminate about how he was to be perceived by his friends. Were they secretly thinking he was a philistine? A fool? A dunce? The kind of person to clap when an airplane lands? They probably know he had uninstalled the Reuters app from his phone because he never opened it.
Even with the benefit of hindsight, the man has said he would still struggle to come up with a better response.
He understands just how unimaginative his answer was and that it would in no way cast any illusion of him being well-read, but he was backed into a figurative corner and this was the best he could do.
I don't know where this is going either.
The Ipe Collection 