THE TABLE

Dear People,

I am writing this letter to tell you about myself.

I am a table, not just any table...I am ‘the’ table.

Well, in my home I am commonly known as ‘the table’.  I don’t understand why all tables are called ‘table’.  It is like my friends around me, there are generally six and they all have the same name too, ‘chair’.  They are all called the same.  The people in my home have different names and they all look different, but not the chairs around me.  Maybe I am special because I am the only one with the name ‘table’.

I live in a house, not too big, not too small.  I am the exact size to match the family that surround me often throughout the day, the evening and sometimes; through the night (this all depends on events in my home).  I see, experience and feel lots of things happening in the kitchen. Oh yes, that is where I live, in the kitchen, with my mates chair, chair, chair, chair, chair and of course, chair.

I am pretty normal and an ordinary looking kitchen table.  Being of timber construction with my top of four planks stained a sandy-greenish-gray hew I think I look good. I have modestly strong shapely legs that manage to support not only my weight but also the weight of much food.  There are times when I feel other weight of the emotional kind upon me.  Humans have weighty problems and issues sometimes.

It is lucky that I am also able to support the limbs and heads of many people when their life becomes tough.  I have felt human tears upon me, so I hope the smell of my wood helps them as their head is resting on me.  My owners describe me as being timbered, rustic, knobbly legs and of a rectangular shape.  It sounds ok to me.

People seem to talk a lot, especially when they are happy, sad or angry.  Don’t misunderstand me, I have no way of hearing things other than though vibration echoing through the room and through my timber but I know what is going on though, from my perspective that is.

Tables and other wooden things are often seen as objects that are made from dead trees but the reality is that although the tree that forms my presence has gone, the timber remains alive.  It is cellular and still alive. 

Perhaps you have seen timber that has been bumped, dented and damaged.  Over time the dents and damage seems to recover to a degree...well, this is why.  Mind you, I still have chips out of my leg that will be there forever, that is until my leg falls of and I am thrown away I suppose.  Perhaps I will be recycled and live a renewed life as something else.  Or even become a part of the earth like fertiliser and help flowers grow.

As I become older and relive my past experiences I become more grateful for being a table.  I have seen many things and, I have been of service.

There is honour of having lived a life of service.  Although I am an old wooden table, in my own way I have helped to support people and this is my way of being of service.

People, the family in my house, have sat around me many thousands of times and I have enjoyed their company whether it was for good times or not so good times.  I can’t talk for the chairs, they don’t express themselves but that is possibly good because that means that the chairs can’t complain.

Back to the family, they were two big and two small people and then there were another two small ones.  When these two very small people arrived the big people were very happy.  There was music, dancing, singing and lots and lots of food.  I think it is called a ‘party’.

Then two others that were really, really old came and lived in our home.

One day a small one was not around anymore and later one of the old ones went...somewhere.  When these people went, the others, the two big ones and the last little one, who had become bigger, were very sad.  They ate lots of food then and I could feel great sadness. There was no music and dancing. 

I don’t understand, what happened to the one old one and the young one, perhaps they went and became fertiliser like I might one day and help flowers grow.

There was sometimes a lot of thinking, writing and discussion upon me, the table.  At times there were really loud vibrations accompanied by thumping on me, shouting even.  I later heard that these were called homework, the boyfriend and ‘why on earth did I let her have the car keys.’  I don’t understand though.

It is not really my place to understand.  But it is my place to stand in the kitchen and be supportive, regardless of things placed upon me or simply to be a resting place.

I am proud of being a table.  I have been a good utility and have been of service.

Yours sincerely,

Table.

Verde.

ONE'S OWN COUNSEL

A sheep, alpaca and kangaroo lesson.

I have enjoyed the luxury of being surrounded by open space, peace and tranquillity on a country property for a while now. Living on top of a very large hill with the muted sounds and silence of the bush, I never realised what it really means to be surrounded by wild and domestic animals and how they communicate.

From various distant trees the birds call to each other, the kangaroos tend to communicate more by body language than grunting and the sheep, alpacas, cattle and horses communicate vocally but generally, if they feel uncomfortable, they walk off.   

It is quite normal for wild kangaroos and the domestic sheep and alpacas to hang around peacefully together in the same paddock.  They are different species, at the one time, feeding at the same dinner table or simply resting.  I have never seen any show of disharmony.

The animals live and let live.  They don’t meddle, interfere, argue or attack other animals.  There is room for all at the dinner table.  Besides eating they often follow each other around (especially the sheep and alpacas).  But if feeling uncomfortable they simply wander off or hop away.

Then there is the human animal. 

Some human animals object to others being at the same dinner table, or the same function as those of a different colour such as white, black, yellow, brown etc.

Some humans may object to sharing with those of a different culture, from a different social group or have a different accent. 

People are interesting, we learn from their behaviour.  There are those in our society who ensure they know everybody’s business and meddle where it is not warranted and their efforts are unwanted. Following, they seem to think it is their right to spread everyone’s' business around with anyone who will listen.  Thus, the listener very often has little interest but pays attention to be polite.  I am unsure whether the offender does it to demonstrate their knowledge of others or, to display their willingness to help others or, to make themselves feel good or lastly, they have nothing better to do or talk about.  

There are people who continually use subversive questioning techniques to dig for personal or business information about individuals and then spread the word to numerous others. There are times when they do not realise it is wrong, if not immoral.  It may be considered a component of sharing, however if it is done without permission, it is breach of confidentially, privacy.  They think they are smart and undetected.  But this deluded thinking is erroneous as perhaps others have always known but chose to say nothing.  What happens?  Once it is realised, people who have been transgressed and their personal and/or business information compromised, trust in the offender has been lost and consequently, will not tolerate this behaviour and walk away.

Why can't some people just sit quietly and enjoy being with others and talk normal social things instead of talking about others and trying to subvert and sneakily gain information?  Like, WTFC? (Who The Stuff Cares).

§

Throughout my life, there have only been three or four people close to me who never talk about other people and their business or personal lives.  Those people were my mother, father, sister and my very best friend of over 20 years.  All of these folk are intelligent humans.  For hours we would sit quietly and discuss food, music, philosophy, the arts, politics, travel and cars etc.  It was never boring, was consistently interesting and thought provoking and never crossed others' boundaries.

Sometimes we could also sit together in our own thoughts and never speak at all.  Nearly all of them are gone now and I very much miss them. 

In the animal kingdom, I am sure kangaroos never feel they have to show one-upmanship, (except in breeding season to show the ladies they are the alpha male), nor how much they know about others and gossip.  The same is for the sheep and alpacas. They simply live their life as a farm or wild animal does, with survival and enjoyment of their circumstances.  They do not have to prove anything to anyone.  No point scoring.

Why can’t the human animal have this acceptance and grace for what they have been given and simply live life without having to prove they know more about people than the average Joe and point score.

If it is a matter of point scoring, there is only one score board, one scorer and one competitor.  With only one competitor, the score is null and void and it cancels itself out with the sore of nil and therefore the sole competitor has nothing, zilch, zero.

Does this happen in the non-human animal world? 

Does our human intelligence facilitate this, or are the non-human animals smarter?

Let us all share the same dinner table and respect privacy.

Verde.