Two college students are in the dining room now. Back in town for at least a few more days. They’re sitting at the table playing Scrabble. One from the Pacific Northwest. One from the Midwest. Both back home from a long ways away.
And it got very quiet in there all of the sudden. I haven’t heard anything for twenty-five minutes. They seem to be taking it quite seriously.
As well one should, right? Scrabble is serious business.
This liberal arts education thing is working. Right? Right. Although … you know … they both get perplexed looks on their faces when we ask them, “And so what do you think you’ll do with your degree when you get out of school?”
Oh, the dreaded question: “What are you going to do.” So easy for the engineer or geologist to ask. (It was always so obvious to us.) So hard for them to contemplate much less answer with more than vagaries and a wave of the hand.
That’s fine. Silence and words go together well. Very well, I’d say.