"I've Thought About It."

I am quietly - and sometimes not-so-quietly - amused whenever someone uses the "I've thought about doing that" line. It's as if they've said, "I've thought about being an astronaut" or "I've thought about winning the Nobel Peace Prize." The thought loses a great deal without the corresponding action. [As I recall, Hillary Clinton said she "thought about" joining the Marine Corps and the press reacted as if she'd enlisted but the paperwork had been lost.]

We're all guilty of this, I suppose. It's one of those fake actions that are cardboard stand-ins for the real thing but we need to remind ourselves that thinking about it and doing it are very different matters. Years ago, there was a big local scandal in Arizona when a newspaper editor who'd appeared in Air Force uniform at various events and who had boasted about his missions in Vietnam turned out to have never served a day in the Air Force. I mentioned to my younger brother that I'd once attended a speech by the man and that he was very interesting. My brother replied, "I'd be interesting too if I didn't have to tell the truth. I could talk about my days in the French Resistance."

Point taken. I'll think about it.