After I wrote that last post, I went to take a shower, and just as I soaped up my head with Silverette Shampoo (or some-such named bluey gooey stuff for gray hair), I realized,
I WAS WRONG ABOUT THE STRIPES!
I'd written that one woman had asked me repeatedly to count the stripes on the flag she was painting.
I kept reassuring her, "That's right---there are thirteen."
Then I'd go help someone else, and she'd demand I come and count again, saying they didn't look right.
I thought she was just being confused. She does have dementia, after all.
But now I realize she was right:
I'd been counting the red stripes, and there were thirteen.
But there aren't thirteen red stripes on the flag.
There are seven. Seven red and six white stripes total thirteen.
Ha! So much for me and my neuronormative brain.
I WAS WRONG ABOUT THE STRIPES!
I'd written that one woman had asked me repeatedly to count the stripes on the flag she was painting.
I kept reassuring her, "That's right---there are thirteen."
Then I'd go help someone else, and she'd demand I come and count again, saying they didn't look right.
I thought she was just being confused. She does have dementia, after all.
But now I realize she was right:
I'd been counting the red stripes, and there were thirteen.
But there aren't thirteen red stripes on the flag.
There are seven. Seven red and six white stripes total thirteen.
Ha! So much for me and my neuronormative brain.
We had a cake decorated in a flag when we were in Saudi. It had a lot of stripes, and the blue bit was in the wrong corner. Memorable.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that I would have given her a different answer, really.
One of the residents put the blue bit in the "wrong" (right-hand) corner too!
ReplyDeleteLater I realized, like the stripes, it's a matter of perception---a flag has two sides, so the placement of the stars box depends on which direction you're looking at it from.
Still, in 2D if felt wrong. But not to her!