Doing The Right Thing

Then we go, as though we understand. It is as if it all suddenly makes sense and we know what to do, where to go and what to say. But we do not know and the words never come to our lips. We know what ought to be said in such situations, but the right words seem wrong somehow, overused and worthless. Doing the right thing seems like going through the motions, somehow insincere. It is easy to be believable when it doesn’t matter, but so hard to be sincere when it is meant, the awkward hesitation and uncertainty, the tentative un-sureness of the felt seems false when compared to the glib assurance of indifference. The hand feels uncertain as it reaches out for the one like itself, as though learning how to touch for the first time, the fingers have to find a way of holding that doesn’t seem perfunctory.