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Rest Assured
While staying in Australia I noticed that some people, especially in government as I recall, seemed to like to say things like "Rest assured..." or "I can assure you..". But they don't ask if the person actually feels more assured. It seems to be another way of saying, “Don’t worry.” It is an example of telling people how to feel, especially when they say , “Rest assured...” which is a command, using the imperative form of the verb “to rest.” Using the imperative, or command form of verbs is like telling a dog to “Come!” “Sit!” “Rolloever.” But our feelings can't be commanded so simply. Fortunately, they are not so obedient. I say fortunately, because it is our feelings that keep us from believing lies, for example. This reminds me of the bullshit detector watch. Our feelings need to be our bullshit detectors. They serve an important role in alerting us when something smells rotten. Telling us not to listen to our feelings is sometimes a bit like telling a person next to a heap of stinking rubbish that there are no bad smells. I am thinking now of Andy Divall's plan to put a waste processing center on the riverbanks in Australia. He and his employees and friends were trying to tell me and the community not to worry. But we all were and still are worried. We are not resting assured, that is for sure! S. Hein |
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