You Feel Me?

The Wire.

Phenomenal show. Omar Little was a kick-ass character, played by Michael K. Williams. Can't believe that little kid killed him. He should rot in the fires of hell. Even though Omar was no angel.

Omar used to say "You feel me?" all the time. As in "Do you understand me?" You know, when he was having a conversation, that was how he made his point.

I love that expression. I am always looking for emotional ways to communicate. Don't like boring language or mindless cliches.

You feel me? gets right down to it. To me, feeling someone is experiencing them on the most basic level. That expression brushes aside superficiality and asks "are you fucking getting what I am saying? Are my words connecting with you?"

Here's the problem - I can never use that expression. Never. I want to, but I can't. Could never pull it off.

I would be ostracized from society as a pretentious and phony bastard. I would be banished to the stocks in the public square, where people would throw tomatos and coconuts at my head.

Years back I experimented with "Happy Christmas". Love that expression. The Brits use it. I hate "Merry Christmas." Merry is such a wimpy word. Nice and merry are two words I abhor because they are so wimpy. When else do you use the word merry? Never.

You could make the point that "Merry Christmas" works precisely because you never use the word merry. I disagree. The word should be banished from the English language.

"Happy Christmas" says it all. Christmas should be happy; you should be happy on Christmas. Happy packs a punch. "The pursuit of happiness", for Christ sake. That's all you need to know.

My experiment failed miserably. I was shunned by polite society and assaulted by impolite society.

If I could not get away with something as innocent as "Happy Christmas", I stand no chance in hell of gettting away with "You feel me?"

I am trapped in a bland existence by a lack of imagination on the part of others.

But I will break free and make my mark on the world explosively and uniquely. I cannot be stopped.

You feel me?