The Long and the Short of It

Earlier today, I made a joke about how if Tchaikovsky was living today and composing the 2012 Overture he’d have to make it 140 notes or less. Thinking about it a little more, it struck me as funny that we embrace epic-length novels (even for literature supposedly aimed at children) and DVD sets of TV shows containing literally says worth of viewing, however, when it comes time to express our gratitude to someone the best a lot of us can manage is to text “thx”. I don’t claim to have any great insights here, but it's an interesting example of how our culture is out of balance. Our current political climate would have us believe that moderation is a dirty word, but, as anyone who's ever engineered a productive compromise knows, it shouldn’t be.