You say To-MAH-to, I say To-MAY-to, let's call the whole thing off...

Okay, I made my writing goals so here I am back with another stray thought.

My sons, ages 9 and 10, picked up a nasty habit of starting each sentence with "No." I've been trying to tamp down on it especially since they are contradicting opinions rather than facts they know the answer to. Well, I recently realized I do the same thing. It's a chicken and egg, did I pick it up from them or did they pick it up from me? But either way, it's a horrible habit.

The thing is, we're not alone in this. How many times have you heard or participated in arguments over things that have no "true" answer? One I've heard often enough in my family is over colors. You look at a car and perceive color, believed to be an absolute, differently. "It's a green car." "No...it's a blue car." and so on.

So, my "think about it" question for the day is why do we spend so much time contradicting non-facts. Is it not enough to share our perspective? Must we establish through persistence and loud voice our way as the right way especially on things for which there is no right way? Or maybe, by becoming aware, we can tame this beast and temper our responses. Let "No" become once again a minor syllable used most often by two-year-olds or closely followed by "thank you."