Wednesday, February 10, 2010

"Forgotten is Forgiven"

The News From Lake Woebegone, Garrison Keillor
"Forgotten is Forgiven"
Prairie Home Companion Feb. 13, 2010

(paraphrase)

After I heard that 1 Cor. 13 love chapter in the Lutheran church, I was moved by it to visit my cousin Barbara. We had not spoken for five years. I brought a peace offering with me -- a couple of loaves of home-baked banana bread, and a quart of Bailey's Irish Creme.

I knocked on her door. I had the banana bread in my hand.
You've gotta bake a peace offering yourself.

She said "This is good."
And so peace was made.
This is how we do this in Lake Woebegon, you see.

This goes against psychology, which tells you that you should talk through these things.
But we believe that if you talk through your problems, you find new ones, and you dig the hole deeper, and you open up a whole fresh can of worms.

And so the way we solve problems is just to look at them and deny that they ever existed. This is how you do it in Lake Woebegon.

The secret of a good marriage is the same as being in a lifeboat for a month.
No sudden moves, allow the other person a lot of room, keep all disastrous thoughts to yourself, and don't try to talk through your problems.
Just try to have more fun -- that's the way you rescue a marriage.

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