30 in 30: Day 5 - Your favourite quote

Red Mannequin
September 2009 Outside Raleighwood, NC
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Day 05→Your favourite quote

First gut response:

"Deadlines are useful things"
-- Douglas Gomery*

with the correlation:

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
-- Douglas Adams†

However, my current favorite quote comes from the film "Birds in America." We just watched it last week and while I'm still undecided on whether or not I liked the film, I really liked a line from one of the characters:

"Sometimes kindness is wiser than truth."**

(The character, Ida, says it's a quote from Columbo, the '70s TV detective. IMDb credits the film's script to Elyse Friedman)

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* Doug Gomery was one of my grad school professors and one of the three who sat on my thesis defense committee. I was his TA for a semester and his views on the history of radio and television being shaped by economic factors changed the way I viewed the subject. The Gomery quote I have used most frequently through the years was his definition of television. ("Television is an industry who's primary goal is to maximize profits given the restraints of history and technology") I taught that definition to about 400 kids during my years teaching in the local public schools -- a fact that amused Doug to no end.

† As mentioned previously, Douglas Adams is one of my favorite authors and his ability to put Important Things into proper perspective was wonderful.

** After watching the film and talking about it Bonn and I both shared that we had, at different times in our past, believed as the character of Jake in the film, that Truth and Honesty were always the best, most liberating things in life. They were an ideal that could be met and mastered with only the willingness to be completely honest with people.

Looking back on it, I think it's the kind of black and white thinking of youth. I still feel that honesty is vital to any relationship, but there are certain reasons for being completely honest (fidelity, values, preferences) and other times when the honesty would unnecessarily be hurtful. ("Did you like the dinner I spent all afternoon cooking for you?") Having experienced enough pain in my life I'm far more forgiving now and would rather spread some kindness and see people smile rather than be harshly honest.

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