Same Difference

As senior editor for an advertising agency, I read a lot of words every day ... a whole lot of words. Because of the range of clients we currently have on our roster, I read about things from cheese to parasites to rabies to taxes to surgical prep agents to propane tanks. And it never ceases to amaze me that almost every single day, somewhere within all those words resides an oxymoron or two ... or sometimes 20. An oxymoron is defined as a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms. They appear in a range of contexts from inadvertent errors to deliberate puns to literary usage where the clashing terms are often carefully crafted to reveal a paradox. Examples of each of the three include: objective opinion, organized mess, deafening silence. Some oxymoron phrases take on a life of their own over the years and become an accepted part of conversation and literature, such as ... same difference.

We've been enjoying unusually warm temperatures in Kansas City for the month of October ... I mean, seriously ... 80 degrees at the end of October? I've seen it snow more than once in October in the 20 plus years that I've lived here. But, true to form for Kansas, the weather can change in a blink, and yesterday it was cold and windy. Last night after I ate dinner, I got all bundled up in my cold weather walking gear, which includes cold compression long underwear (under my jeans and sweatshirt, of course), wool socks, gloves, scarf, stocking cap and ski coat. I know ... what am I going to do when it's really, really cold outside this winter, right? As I snapped Oliver's harness across his shoulders and pulled his doggie sweater over his head, tears filled my eyes ... the sweater I put on Ollie last night was the first one I ever bought for J.R.

Walking along on the path as the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky, I couldn't help but think about how much Ollie reminds me of J.R. at times and at other times how much I see the differences between them. Same difference, I thought as I walked, same difference. Ollie is about the same size as J.R. was, although he is a bit taller and a little longer. His nose is pink, his fur is a little lighter in color and his eyes are smaller. But there are times when he cocks his head and looks at me the same way J.R. used to, with that, "I know what you're thinking" expression on his face. J.R. didn't like the cold weather at all ... I'm sure it made his back pain intensify. Ollie runs like a madman on the trail when it's brisk outside ... it's almost as if he relishes the cold temps. J.R. snuggled his head under my neck when we went to bed at night, always cuddling up close to me. Ollie burrows under the covers down near the foot of the bed, and rarely does he snuggle when we're sleeping. But ... Ollie curls up in my lap just like J.R. did when I'm sitting on the couch, and he loves cheese and Cheetos, too. He and Julie are the best of pals, and Julie mothers him much like she did J.R. Perhaps most of all, Ollie seems to love me as much as my little J.R. did ... he follows me wherever I go and his tail almost wags off when I talk to him. So much the same and yet so very different.

As I made the turn to head home, I started thinking about people and how so many of us look the same on the outside and yet are so different on the inside. We may dress the same or have the same color of hair or eyes or weigh the same or speak the same, but inside ... deep inside where it really matters, we are different. Same difference. And then I started thinking about those of us who call ourselves Christians, and I thought ... man ... there's a huge truth there, God, a huge truth. So many times, we try to "look" Christian on the outside ... to look the same as all the Christians in our little worlds, but on the inside ... deep inside where it really matters, if we admitted it or showed it or revealed it ... we're not the same at all, but instead quite different.

Same difference. Think about it, friends ... think about it.