After staring at my computer for three long hours, listening to Peter White’s Just Another Day over and over again on iTunes, it suddenly dawned on me! How our entire world has been filled with words. They come in sets, though some are effective in their singular forms, and all are stored in our individual brains. We use them to survive, to communicate. So I thought, why not write about a good set of words? And what better setting than the one we all know as a cliché.
The old clichés have played a vital role in our existence as people. I wonder if this thought has ever crossed their minds. How does one seem to automatically think of a good cliché to describe situations? Let me focus on the term “a silver lining” for a moment. John Milton’s phrase, better known as “all clouds have a silver lining”, is best described on Wikipedia (the popular encyclopedia) as a metaphor for optimism and is classified as an idiom. Added George Lansbury’s cartoon drawing of a man experiencing heavy rain, protected by his “Brolski” as he called it, with the word incorruptibility written on the umbrella. Delving into this cliché, this play on words. Then I realized how big his role has been in the life of a normal person! Advertising him from life’s disappointments. Like the mention of this metaphor every time we miss the morning bus, are late for an important meeting, lose a job, there seems to be an endless list of situations in which this phrase could better serve its good purpose. Well worth keeping intact in one’s databank as a weapon to handle the unsuspecting Oh my God! events.
Moving further, let’s take a deeper look at “a silver lining” as a member of the long list as something similar to a sentence. In a situation where a loved one is lost, be it a friend, lover, neighbor and even a dog. Wouldn’t these three words work well for anyone just like a sentence would? Doesn’t it give us the same feeling of being saved from a bad feeling? As the dissection progresses, I begin to realize how powerful “a silver lining” turns out to be. Three simple words, requiring a clear definition, and once their meaning is clearly understood, they can be used as an effective tool of some kind.
The other week, a good friend told me a story. He heard a light knock on his bedroom door and was pleasantly surprised to discover that she was his mother. She says, “Let’s talk.” So she walks away from her computer and follows her mother into the kitchen. That place in her home that she has become her heart, as in most of our own homes. They had been expecting a very large property sale. Her mother has been working on this project for years and it was clearly a good time for her efforts to be well rewarded. It was also a deal that would solve most of his current difficulties and pave the way for a more comfortable life. Her mother, beaming with pride, announces that they are about to close a big deal and that she is already working on all the documents, including a paycheck. By this time, all the other members of her family had joined them, and they had all been excited about the great “blessing”. They were a Catholic family and most of the fortune was attributed to blessings.
The whole family now goes to the next step of looking for a house to buy, calling all 20 realtors. They all jump into their vehicle and drive from house to house, from corridor to corridor. Keeping track of which house was the best, at the most reasonable price. Even before they closed their eyes to sleep, their thoughts were focused on the upcoming closing of this great business. A week goes by and the same thing happens. The mother knocks on the door of her daughter’s room, but this time it was not good news. The buyer had momentarily backed out! Ah, a real Oh-My-God moment! Now a crying mother and daughter sit together in the same kitchen and automatically say, “It could be a blessing of some kind, surely God has something better for all of us.” If this mother and her child had been American, they would surely have used “a silver lining” to save both of them from heartbreak and disappointment.
This story clearly shows us how our star of stars “a ray of light” has both power and weight in even the simplest people, homes and situations. I could tell another story, this time taking place in the highest court in the land, but it would make my story too long and I don’t want to bore you.
At the end of this text, I hope to have given “a silver lining” tribute to its existence in our lives. Hope to see you again when I move to the top second star on my Old Clichés list. But until then, remember to keep these three words and their meaning close by. They are free and easy to use.
