Britta's Letters from her life divided between city-life in German's capital Berlin and life in a Bavarian village

Saturday 19 March 2016

Should I?

You should, articles in my free Facebook version of Psychology Today tell me, you should erase the word "should" from your mind - that would make life so much easier!
And this is the reason why I sit here in front of my computer (I should could do housekeeping instead, or finish my article on "Softly, Softly: Task Force Police" - but without the inner "should" I wouldn't. To me this "should" is at least as forceful as Mr. Barlow - not to speak of Chief Constable Arthur Cullen...) 
I was so happy that the BBC found - after many decades - quite a lot of the episodes and put them on DVD. I was a bit surprised when I saw it again - so very authoritarian, and the only female police constable so "fresh" and "girlish", that it made me wince. 
I was glad that PC Snow  (Terence Rigby) with his dog "Radar" was as gorgeous as I remembered him! 
Now I sit and think about Baden-Powell's quote of "Softly, softly, catchees monkey.
Meaning: No flurry - it will work out with patience. 
Are they talking about good housekeeping? 
But for that I have to/ should/ must  will get up first! 



16 comments:

  1. What an interesting concept about dropping the word "should." Makes sense, too. It's such a judgmental word, isn't it?

    I'm not familiar with the TV show you wrote about, but if they were available, I'm sure I'd wince at some of the old shows I used to watch, too. (We've come a long way, baby!)

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    1. Yes, interesting how we (I?) tend to idealize the past. I often see that while watching old series. And women have come a long way! In Germany they broadcasted Task Force Police (a spin-off of Z-Cars) in 1971.

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  2. Sometimes the housework should, could, must, will, can wait.

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  3. It's ok to use the word should, Britta. "Should I ask husband to do the housework for me today?" :) Greetings Maria x

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    1. That passes my lips easily, Maria! Greetings Britta x

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  4. Was it Baden-Powell who came out with that bit of stuff? I love fresh and girlish policemen. I live for them.

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    1. "SIR!!!" (Clicking her heels)
      “You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”
      (Baden-Powell mentioned it three times in his Ghana-diaries, 1895/6 - later journalists used it often around 1900 after the Boer War. But maybe the origin is before B-P)

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  5. Yes, banish "should" from our vocabularies - it's such a shaming little word!!!

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    1. Welcome again, Olde Dame Penniwig! The aspect of "shaming" is interesting too - of course it is included in the word "should" when you use it as a reproach. Let's do a spring cleaning among words!

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  6. I never use the word in its negative sense. My pet hate is: "If only . . ."

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    1. "If only..." is so full of regret, Gwil - I don't like it either! "I did my best" is much better.

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  7. There is certainly a lot that could be written about 'shoulds' and how they get us into trouble and sometime keep us out of trouble. Me? I have waaay too many shoulds in my life, but it is a time-of-life thing and the shoulds won't budge for a while.
    Good luck working through your shoulds (and their cousins, the Shouldn'ts)

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    1. Oh Pondside, of course there are a lot of things one has to do, though one would prefer something different. Those I can "remodel" - make a contest of them (playing against the clock when cleaning) or sitting in front of the computer until I start working on that article - are to be conquered. The best way for me is to ask myself why I say "should" and what it is that disturbs me. Of course a few things remain that I just "have to do". There I try to think the Zen-way: everything is equally worth to be done :-) (A hard lesson for me)

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  8. When I was a Boy Scout in 1964, I encountered both Lyndon Johnson and Olave, Lady Baden-Powell, in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Overhead, a little airplane dragged a banner around the sky. It said, "Vote For Goldwater". Should it have done that? I think so; it made all of us laugh together.

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    1. Is Goldwater the one who lost against Lyndon B. Johnson? Geo., I am impressed that you were a boyscout (husband too - he was a St. Georg's boyscout). Fun to see "the sky" contradicting the earthlings - but I assume that you were far too young to vote then :-)

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