my dad said.

my dad always told me “sure means no.”

i never understood why. i never asked. and until just recently i’d only assumed there was

nothing mote to this than a preference in semantics... but i think he was talking about guts. you know, GUTS. and how they feel when something is wrong, or right. and how that feeling is unyielding. and correct. and trustworthy. those guts - they know what they’re doing. unlike my brain, which is impressionable. and and tentative. and vague. so i think my dad was trying to tell me that i should only trust my gut. because the gut never says maybe, it never says sure. guts will only provide one of two possible answers: YES. NO. so now i see: the offering of a hearty “sure” is quite plainly, a gutless response. in which case i'm just better off not responding at all, because if i can't listen to my gut then i've presently got more important things to do. so i get it. sure means no. gee-whiz, dad. sure packed a lot a punch into that one.