Misunderstandings Great and Small.

In her introduction to ‘I Thought There Would Be Cake’, Katharine Welby-Roberts says: ‘I remember as a child wishing I was grown up… Being an adult looked like a party where there was shed loads of cake. And then I grew up and was very disappointed. I found there was a lot of other stuff and not much cake.’ A child’s misunderstanding…

On TV recently comedian Paul Merton pointed out the difference between a uniformed police officer and an uninformed police officer; the addition or omission of a single letter can cause misunderstanding.

On Saturday, Laurence and Andrea’s wedding included a song that includes the line ‘Up from the ashes hope will arise.’ What some folks sing sounds like, ‘Up from the ashes soap will arise.’ Another misunderstanding.

On Sunday Minister-Lou held up a roll of the strong adhesive tape used in many DIY situations. I’ve never known whether it’s duck tape or duct tape. She asked what we might use it for. I suggested, ‘sticking ducks together’. Her response explained my misunderstanding.

Yesterday, writing about ‘New Words, Fresh Voices’, our evening of original poems, songs and short stories, my misdirected fingers typed ‘New Words, Fresh Vices’. That could cause significant misunderstanding!

Yesterday our friend Rebecca explained that, texting her Dad’s Welsh address the autocorrect suggested that ‘Llantarnam, Cwmbran,’ should be “Llamas, Cambelt.’ ‘My Dad did used to be a dab hand at fixing a car, but if he wasn’t going to let my Mum have chickens, then he definitely would have drawn the line at llamas!’ Un-checked autocorrect brings misunderstanding.

During the recent Tourette’s Awareness Campaign I watched the singer Grace Cope’s story. She talked about her neurological disorder, the repetitive, involuntary movements, the vocalizations or ‘tics’. I’m still moved when I watch Grace and the choir of folks with Tourette’s singing the Nina Simone classic ‘Don’t let me be misunderstood.’

Humour comes from misunderstanding; so does suffering. This morning I’m musing on the causes of misunderstanding, and praying for greater sensitivity to the misunderstood.