Saturday 19 January 2013

Deferral: A Meditation

Don't actually. 

Ladies and Gentlemen have you ever given thought to the word ‘deferral?’ I am not sure why, but this morning when I awoke from my twisted bed sheets after a bothered sleep, this word was stuck in my mind. It was hanging there by the threads of memory like the last beer you drank before you shuffled off into dreamland or the final uncomfortable statement one says before he leaves a boozy party. There it was to greet me as I awoke. 

“Why is this the thought that I am given when I awake?” I said to myself. I actually did. Yes, I do often speak in asides.

It was random. Rather absurd. Let’s investigate it. 

During my many years wasting my time in the forests of Mississauga, this word had negative connotation. One filed ‘a deferral’ if they wanted to stop their education and galavant off into the world to sow their seeds. It was an unfocused word. One that meant this person was flighty and could not be relied upon. I had many contacts with this sort of unfocused Forestian. They were always laying about playing Guitar Hero or wasting my time with idle chatter about this style of music or that style of comedy. 

I was forced to defer my life to play lip service to who ever was discussing idle ideas to defer their next action. 

As I grew older and left the forests of the kingdom of Hazel McCallion, this word began to take on a different meaning.  It was now largely positive. It meant that I could relax and catch up with my thoughts again. I could grasp the terror of my life without the safety net of school and again feel free. It is important always to defer the stresses of the world and collect your thoughts. If you don’t, you are likely to fall pray to stress demons. 

Another use of the word ‘defer’ is supplication or the ‘Royal pass off’ of responsibility to another. This is both negative and positive. It could be a ‘pass off’ of responsibility for something you do not wish to deal with.  It could also be used in the sense of passing something you feel you cannot handle to someone who can. Shared responsibilities or ‘help,’ is kind of deferral.

Help is something I have often had trouble allowing myself to ask for. I often motor ahead and attempt to take the world on my concave, out of shape shoulders, only to crumble under the weight of the abstract burdens of life. I do mean to correct this, by asking for help once a week, but that is a different post. 

Deferral. Root: Defer. Origin from the Latin: defferre meaning literally ‘to bear down.’ ‘To bear down.‘ That is important to repeat. ‘To bear down.‘ It is a tactic. A verb. It is ultimately a strategy to handle stress. Perhaps, it is that very use that spurred on  my early morning thought. Perhaps ‘I must bear down,’ but I defer to the future for any concrete reason for this meditation. 

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