One evening last week when I came home from work, Susan announced that the municipal tax bill had arrived and, she added hastily, it was $1000 more than last year.
Almost instantly, dejection and disillusionment began seeping into my mind. Dejection, because $1000 dollars is a freaking steep increase; disillusionment, because even though we have both spent our entire lives in this town, consider it home and grew up here as children, reliably paying our taxes for services every year, we are no longer permitted to receive bilingual explanations of our skyrocketing tax bill.
Susan offered to show the bill to me but, glumly, I declined the offer, preferring to confront the dismal reality later.
I sat on the couch wallowing in a fairly familiar soup of learned helplessness.
A few hours later, as we stood at the kitchen table, she pulled the infernal bill out of the envelope and after looking at it closely, she declared that she’d made a mistake; the bill was actually not $1000 more but, instead, it was the same amount as the year before.
Uncomprehending, I stared at her.
Wait, I don’t think the word “uncomprehending” covers it. Dumbfounded. Stunned. Incredulous. Flabbergasted.
Fine; as my brain cautiously processed her latest comment, I was also relieved, but she had reported a rather heaping discrepancy!
So very many questions; but why dwell?
Later that night, I reluctantly admitted to Susan that she’d inadvertently managed to make me feel quite lighthearted about the tax bill.
That never happens.
She finds the episode amusing and, after several sessions with a gifted therapist, I sort of do, too.
However, my sweetheart, this is in no way an endorsement of any future plan on your part to employ such a deceptive psychological tactic.
Do I recommend implementing this deliberate strategy for dealing with the twists and turns in your life?. Not really.
Doesn’t it seem inherently unhealthy in many ways?
I believe it far wiser to invest in honesty.
And better glasses for you know who.
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