The New York Times vs Cleaning the Kitchen

If you don’t read the New York Times
cover to cover every day, there’s no
hope for you to be listened to in this house.
If you claim to read peer reviewed journals,
you can pull additional rank.
(Youthful impetuousness adds fuel to
the certainty of arguments.)
Once those credentials are in place, the
sky’s the limit on what can be claimed as truth,
backed by sources, dates, times, authors.
And so, the debates and arguments roll along;
whether the study of literature or science
is most relevant in today’s world,
whether reading the classics is a waste of time,
whether homeowners with foreclosed houses
deserve help or not,
whether affirmative action is good or bad
for underrepresented groups.
Some stated facts fall to the wayside with
a simple Google. (That’s my contribution
as I have no other accepted credentials.)
After awhile, I drift off to do the dishes,
pondering the interesting things I have heard.
I hear snippets of ongoing debate over the
soft shuffle of my slippers on the floor, running
water and the sloshing of dishes in the sink.
Left overs get put away, counters get wiped
and the floor gets a quick sweeping.
Order is restored in this small kitchen, as a
balance against the chaos and uncertainty
outside our doors.

Photo courtesy of: http://flickr.com/photos/2serenity/1594195016/