Friday, December 09, 2005

don't let the snark go unchecked

It is 4:30am. I woke about an hour ago and have given up on falling back to sleep for awhile. Maybe it was the beer I drank while visiting my friends -- better quality than usual. Or maybe the pizza they made me (too rich to sleep on?) -- with its delicate slabs of fresh mozzarella and abundant fresh basil, strewn over it like lawn clippings. I hadn't seen these friends, who are a couple, together in over a year. I'd seen them both a few times one-on-one, but until last night I hadn't been able to get them both in the same place at the same time. I noticed they were snarkier with each other than they had been before. I guess most couples take this acquired snarkiness for granted, but I see it for what it is: the beginning of the end. That's dramatic, surely, but still. It's that easy annoyance lurking right under the surface, just waiting for the mildest friction to uncover it. I picture two croquet balls with chipping paint jostling together and as they jostle, more paint chips away. These are my friends. It may not be insurmountable, but once a couple starts down that snarky path unchecked, they will only begin to accumulate resentments and negativity towards one another. Before long, they'll be that couple you see at a party who spend the whole night taking public pot-shots at each other as they get more and more drunk. And that's just no good.

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