simmering

I think we should practice the art of simmering more often. Simmering is a rule I have about writing. A person should never, ever just write something up and consider it done after the first draft. It should simmer overnight, and maybe longer if, when you taste it, it needs more salt, or is still kind of tough. Don't let it boil or turn the heat up too much. Let it simmer. And if it needs to, let it simmer for several days. Ask someone else to taste it and then consider following their suggestions for making it tastier. Or....if it doesn't taste write (ha ha) just toss it and start it all over.

This seems like good advice for life in general. We should let our emotions simmer before putting them on a nice plate and serving them up to the unsuspecting folks who are expected to clean their plates. Decisions should simmer too...what's the hurry anyway? We all eat too much and the portions are too large and we are getting fat with too many unexpressed and over expressed emotions and quick decisions. Sometimes we even get sick from eating undercooked decisions.

Maybe if our lives simmered slowly instead of always being on full boil, we wouldn't be cranky and we wouldn't build monster homes, drive huge vehicles and wreck the environment. Maybe we would be nice to each other and sit on our porches again and wave at the neighbors.