Sep
29
Today while I was sweeping the kitchen floor, I was thinking about the word “indelible” and when I first became acquainted with it (because words are like acquaintances to me). I asked someone (either one of my parents or a teacher) what “indelible” meant, and they told me it was something that couldn’t be erased, no matter what. They likened it to the line of dust that remains next to the dustpan when you try to sweep everything up. No matter what you do, you can’t get every bit of dust into the dustpan. There’s always the line of dust.
I first asked about the definition of “indelible” because of John Mayer’s song “My Stupid Mouth.” The second half of the second verse goes like this:
And I could see clearly
An indelible line was drawn
Between what was good, what just
Slipped out and what went wrong.
What a clever word choice for the situation described in “My Stupid Mouth.” I really like this song because it says so much about the tension between the couple without needing to explain everything. You don’t even need to know what he actually said that upset her. You can just fill in the blank with whatever you can relate to.
This song reminds me a lot of an old friend of mine who, despite all of the indelible lines between us, left an indelible impression on me. Is it possible or prudent to sweep up old memories and toss them out, or will there always be an indelible trace of dust for me to step on and carry with me wherever I go?