Context
Her name was Audrey and I asked her if she followed politics at all. She shook her head.

“Some politician is always accusing the media or his opponent of taking his words out of context,” I said. “Sometimes you hear the whole story and agree. Other times you think the politician is just making excuses.”

“Not sure what that has to do with me,” Audrey said.

“As you look back on your life, you gotta ask yourself, ‘am I taking this out of context?’”

“I still don’t follow you.”

“You say you abandoned your sister. That seems bad. Put in context, you were a scared sixteen-year-old desperate to escape an abusive father. Your choices were limited.”

“I know but that sounds like an excuse.”

“No,” I said. “An excuse would be blaming your father’s drinking when really you just wanted to move in with your boyfriend.”

“When you look back, put your life in context,” she said, nodding. “Do you do that?”

I laughed.  “Not until I’m done beating myself up for something I did or said thirty years ago. Then I’ll look back and put it into context.”

Today I’ll put my past in context.

Dogged Determination ©2018 & 2019 by Ken Montrose

Dogged Determination is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/