I think cliches, like Christmas letters, have their place in this world, and it's an important one. After all, a statement doesn't become a cliche by accident. It's because so many people have so many similar experiences that after awhile, they start to say the same things, and voila, a cliche is born.
I have a whole arsenal of cliches, ready at any moment, which I can use with deadly accuracy to remind my family that they are not the first person to have ever done, thought, or felt any given experience. I think it's important to remember that when it comes to being human, we really do have more in common than not, even with people on the other side of the world.
Each culture has its own unique cliches which are used to express their common experiences. For example, a penny for your thoughts would not make any sense in Qatar, where they don't use pennies. But I'll bet they have something similar to show that the person asking values you enough to want to know what you are thinking. (Of course, a penny was worth a lot more back when this one came into being. These days, it's more of an insult, so use it sparingly.)
As a sidelight, isn't it interesting how we will give someone else a penny for their thoughts, but we want to give our own two cents worth? Does this indicate that most people feel what they have to say is twice as important as what anyone else has to offer? I think that is something worth asking ourselves whenever we give an unsolicited opinion.
(I suspect my own children wish I would take that advice more seriously. They seem to value my life experience a lot less highly than I do, for some reason. I guess they don't realize that practice makes perfect.)
Cliches come and go, of course. Don't take any wooden nickels isn't a line you hear often any more, although it was quite the catch phrase back in the early part of the 20th Century. And yet, the advice contained in the adage is solid gold - don't be gullible. That is advice that we need in every time, because there is always someone out to cheat you in this world.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away may sound trite to our sophisticated, modern ears, but in fact, it was a reminder that fruits and vegetables are the way to stay healthy. (Turns out those old people weren't so dumb after all.) It is more fun to keep the doctor away than to simply eat your fruits and vegetables, don't you think? The old fashioned food pyramid was not only more entertaining, it was a lot easier to remember.
As a parent, I have repeated ad nauseum (which means until my kids want to throw up or run away from home) the phrase, "Two wrongs don't make a right." This goes along beautifully with the idea that "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." Even in the Bible, cliches ring out with truth and clarity, "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." That is a fancy way of saying, fix your own flaws before you start working on someone else's! (That is Matthew 7:5, by the way.)
Mostly, it seems, cliches center on behavior or attitude, things you can control and change, if you really want to. Love is blind, actions speak louder than words, misery loves company, it takes two to tango, beauty is in the eye of the beholder; all are about the way we deal with the world around us, and what life throws our way.
So, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. In that case, you need to shape up or ship out. After all, life is not a bowl of cherries. (Unless you bite into a pit and break your tooth. My own addition to the lexicon of cliche-speak.)
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. Of course, easy come, easy go, so perhaps you won't hang on to it, if you didn't work for it. In the end, what goes around, comes around, and you don't want to be on the wrong side of Karma.
I have heard it said that the Christmas letter itself is a cliche, and that no one cares about them any more. If that is true, then Hallmark has made a serious marketing mistake, and I don't think they have spent millions of dollars on market research to make mistakes. The holiday stationary is already flooding the stores, and the post office has printed their holiday stamps, which will go on millions of envelopes in an effort to connect in an old fashioned, tangible way with those we love and care about.
I think, in fact, most people do enjoy Christmas letters, well written or not, because, in spite of the ability to be constantly in touch with e-mail, texting, cell phones and IM, people are less connected today than ever. In our harried, hurried culture, we rarely take the time to share what matters to us, or to let people into our lives in a meaningful way. And in spite of the jokes and criticisms, most of us want to know both the good and the bad that have happened in the lives of those we care about.
I think that cliches, also, have a valued place in our personal dialogue. If you really pay attention to the cliches, you will have a useful handbook on living life well. You will certainly learn about the pitfalls in life, and to laugh at yourself when things go wrong. After all, laughter is the best medicine!
