A Special Sentencing Proceeding

I love a good competition. Or even a bad one. Spelling bees, backyard bocce ball matches, staring contests. I’m competitive with other people and competitive with myself, competitive but not cutthroat, competitive because the alternative feels too much like treading water when I’d rather swim.

Here’s a healthy competition we’re all eligible for. (And, by “all,” I mean anyone able to follow along with these letters and words. I don’t want to see any self-righteous, “Well, you know, not all of us are eligible. Not everyone in this world knows how to read - just the lucky ones….” notes in my inbox.) A new literary journal, Easy Street, is holding a sentence contest. Have you ever written, spoken, or thought of a specific set of words, about an idea, that kind of impressed you? About 7 years ago, I took somewhat of a shine to a sentence, a question really, I wrote in my journal:

What’s more deflating than ultimately having no choice but to conclude that someone you’d initially deemed very special is actually no different from pretty much everybody else?

I wowed only myself with this one. Of the 11 or so people I repeated it to, 10 mutely projected, “Is this about me?” looks. One straight-up rolled his eyes.

But I can come up with others. So can you. We have until the end of this month.