Sunday, April 11, 2010

IT WAS ON THE TIP OF MY TONGUE


(photo credit)

CANADIANS: "Please divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision."


AMERICANS: "Recommend YOU divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision."


CANADIANS: "Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision."


AMERICANS: "This is the captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course."


CANADIANS: "No, I say again, you divert your course."


AMERICANS: "This is the Aircraft Carrier USS LINCOLN, the second largest ship in the United States Atlantic Fleet. We are accompanied with three Destroyers, three Cruisers and numerous support vessels. I DEMAND that you change your course 15 degrees north. I say again, that's one-five degrees north, or counter-measures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship."


CANADIANS: "This is a LIGHTHOUSE. Your call."


I woke up this morning with one word on the tip of my tongue: lighthouse. Well, that is odd, you must be thinking. Well, yes and no. I spent all day, it seemed like, working on the IF I WERE blog and I knew that the lighthouse revelation related to the object part of that blog. To keep you up to speed, in yesterday's blog if I were an object, I would be a band-aid. That is what I chose.

However, all of those "if I were" questions were tough, because it was difficult to know if I was actually choosing what I actually was, what I liked most, or what I wished I was most of the time. Those things can overlap. And, so, my subconscious must have still been working on my IF I WERE list while I was sleeping, and decided that what I really wanted to be was a lighthouse. Do I think I am a lighthouse? No. I think I made the right choice with band-aid.

However, that got me to thinking about all things lighthouse. My mother collects them. She likes the kind that actually light up. They get mixed in with our Christmas decorations a lot. Our Christmas village sometimes has a lighthouse. It may not be historically accurate, but it's pretty. Of course, my mom has several Christmas villages so it is tough for one of them not to share space with a lighthouse. (photo credit)

I went looking for the joke that kicked this blog off when I knew it was going to be about lighthouses. It started circulating back in the mid-90s and was first thought to be true. Since then, it has appeared in many variations, with the Americans manning the lighthouse, and there is even a variation involving the UK, or so says snopes. In any event, it's pretty funny.

There is also a song by Nickel Creek called The Lighthouse's Tale. You can click here to watch/listen. It is literally a story told from the perspective of a lighthouse. I am reminded each time that I listen to it that an object, any object, has no power. I am also amazed by the raw talent of the three young people that sing this song. They are only teenagers. Of course, the song itself is pretty cool or I wouldn't have put in on here.

5 comments:

  1. That's hilarious. I didn't realize until after I read that joke that I'd heard it before. But it's very funny.

    Lighthouses are so beautiful, even the old, abandoned ones. Perhaps it's the idea of them, a light to guide you in the dark.

    Love the look of your blog, btw. Now a follower ;)

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  2. Robin, thank you for following my blog. I love this post...as like so many people, I am in awe and intrigued by lighthouses. The Nickle Back song picked up my Monday morning too, in spite of the sadness. If you follow this link, at the botton of the post, you'll see the light house near us...
    http://middlepassages-lcs.blogspot.com/2010/02/far-side.html

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  3. I enjoyed both posts. A chuckle about an umbrella, a sigh about a mom and no fingernails scratching. Really.

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  4. Never heard the joke before. I just love it! Lighthouses have always intrigued me as well. Solitary beacons with the primary job of keeping others safe. I can see you as a lighthouse.

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  5. Hmmmm...I'll have to check out that song, thanks Robin! And I love that joke, just thought of it the other day (You and I really do think alike, don't we....)

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