Overhearing the truth (maybe)

A new coffee shop just opened at a nearby marina. It offers the requisite range of espresso drinks and compatible pastries, bagels and breakfast sandwiches. Business seems to be good, perhaps because the shop offers a cozy setting inside and seating outside on a lawn that rolls to the water’s edge. Nice.

It makes one think about those places in the Keys (and elsewhere, I suppose) where boats can tie up at a restaurant’s dock. I mean, with all the navigable water out the back door, might be true here. Heck, it probably is true.

Today, a fellow follows me into the shop. His jacket catches my eye; it proclaims his membership on a local, sports championship team. As I collect my cup, he catches the eye of the owner to my left. I hear little of the conversation, but I do hear this: “You can tie right up next to it.”

A ha, my supposition is confirmed. Yeah, right. The only thing confirmed was the willingness to believe as true what we think up. We reinforce what we think by putting great weight on the things we hear that are in-line with what we thought in the first place.

Paul Simon got it right: A man (and a woman) does hear what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.