CHICKEN
SOUP

A little

schmaltzy
perhaps, but
communication
like they don't
teach today

LARRY LEVNER

as told to Edward A. Thorp

So when she looks over
the table at him, just the
two of them, candles
maybe, with sweetness
in her eyes, and asks,
"Do you like it?" he
says, "Hmmm. Good! I
like it!"

28

Friday, August 22, 1986

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Art by Ted Albano

ast week my daughter, 25
and still not married, drags me to
her adult education sensitivity class.
At 25, my daughter discovers -she's
not sensitive enough?
"Pappa," she pleads, "you've got
to get out of the house. It's not good
that you should just sit here and not
relate to people. You've got to learn
to open up and communicate."
Communicate! For 32 years I
run a shoe store, and now suddenly I
can't communicate? OK, so my wife
died of cancer last year. So maybe I
talk to the refrigerator. OK, if it will
make Anna — that's my daughter
who can't communicate, but when
she was 16 she could talk on the
phone for two hours at a time — if it
will make her happy, I'll go to the
class and learn to "relate."
Such communication you should
see. This schlimiel, with a diploma
and mustache like Teddy Roosevelt,
drones on about how you shouldn't
hide your true feelings. You've got to
release your fears and frustrations.
Relate your hidden ego to people so
that your id can express itself to
your superego. Then everyone gets
to communicate. The stories, you
can't believe! Anna, my sensitive

N