Talking too much?

I'm taking a few moments away from an afternoon/evening of self-enforced relaxation to reflect on the last week. We've spent hours talking: maatings both formal and informal. We've talked early in the morning and late at night, talked in restaurants, bars and bouncing along in battered vehicles, talked over tea and coffee, beer and brandy. Lots of talking. That's the easy part.

Now, as in right now, we rest and digest. Some things are clear enough already. Others need a little time to sort themselves out, to fall into focus. Others we will doubtless grapple with for some time to come. This reflection is important but it is not the end of the process. Decisions need to be made but they don’t implement themselves either.

Soon enough we’ll need to act on all this talk and thought. That’ll be the moment of truth. It’s easy to talk a good talk, painting big pictures in your mind’s eye. Such art never changed the world. Neither is it often changed by grand gestures, so there is perhaps little point solely preparing for one significant moment. I read an article by Henry Kissenger were he proposed ‘a strategy of gradualism that seeks greatness in the accumulation of the attainable.’ I’m inclined to agree with him. But that requires a continuous commitment to action. And that's such an attractive thought, isn't it!