I’m not into the gossip stuff. But, as often we’ve seen on this website, discussing religion or politics can turn civil proceedings into incendiary ones lickety-split. I’m surprised there aren’t flames shooting from the WoW-o-Wow banner!

Used to go to a club where there was always an elephant in the room, the one everyone knew about but the elephant themself. Husband running around, wife not really on business trip. New elephant every few weeks. Free the elephants.

Yes that bastard gets out and tromps the early morning hours and then I force him back into his cage. One lives with him. What else can one do but live with him. I have no other choice.

Why was the elephant NOT in the room? Cheney’s the big game hunter. Palin’s the decoy. And women, progressives and bloggers are behaving like small forest animals.

Oh…so many elephants! As confidante years ago to a highly placed elected official…I moved in a circle that let me see the “inside” workings of most of the elected officials in our small southern town. Now, years later, I am married into a family that routinely entertains, inviting most of those officials…my husband once asked me “Honey, why does Judge So and So always act so nervous around you?” I just smiled and said I had no idea…no point in telling him or anyone else about the Judge’s mistress and second family in another town…and that is just ONE of the elephants. Elephants can also help you…so its good to keep them “put away”…you might need one some day.

He’s a drinker with a drinker’s disease and no one knows “…..how that happened”. He’s been so ill and still drinks on yet no one will dare say the word: “alcolholic”. “What a great guy; poor thing, so sick.” I wonder sometimes, do we enable the elephant?

When my younger brother was 3 he let the Elephant out of the bag ..He walked into my mothers friends house and put his hand on his hip and blurted out “what a pig pen ?”Every..one laughed …because it was the truth !He is still the same today at 40 something !

Years ago I was a member of an arts organization which had a member who tried very hard to give the impression she “ran/owned” the organization. She made herself very visible and community members, city officials, and the media got the impression that she wanted. There were several problems, such as her missing deadlines, spelling errors of names being published in news releases, and not following through on important matters. All this was in addition to her incredibly slovenly appearance, including dirty fingernails and smelly clothes. At a meeting she did not attend, I was brave enough to speak out and say “she gives a bad impression of the group”. The room was silent and then a few people squirmed in their chairs. No one followed my comment with their own…silence. It amazed me that the group had allowed this unkempt, disoganized and self serving woman to gain such a visible position, while the members considered themselves serious professionals serving the community. When I became chairperson over a particular area, I did not involve her and did all the work myself. She became furious when I contacted, and met with, the curator of a local museum to propose a joint event. (The event was very successful). Slowly she was squeezed out of her self defined domain, by myself and others. It all had started with me speaking out and apparently saying what others were thinking.

Shiela, The poem is excellent. The lives we are forced to live based on the lives of others. I’ve often believed that non-thinking animals have it better.

Oh yes. Many elephants over the years. Currently one of my closest friends whom I love so dearly has a 51 year old son whose never married but has a “dear friend” also male that lives with him. When they come to parties the dear friend whose also male brings a “girlfriend”. A young woman whose studying to be a surgeon so she can perform transgender surgeries. For some reason way way beyond my understanding my friend refuses to acknowledge that her son is more than likely gay. All of us who love her, say it to each other but never to her. It confuses me as I met this person at an event where she had come with a friend who is gay. She’s pro choice, pro gay marriage, she never turns on her tv but listens to NPR. She’s well read. I’ve never heard a bigoted word out of her mouth. But for some reason she’s invested in not seeing that her son is gay. So it is certainly an elephant in the room. I’m taking this question a bit more literally than some. I think everyone knows secrets about other people. But that “elephant in the room” in my life is often more political or social concept related. I also have a friend who works for an airline and parties at her house usually mean a lot of pilots attend. One time I attended one of her parties with a friend of mine who is so stunning that women and men both have a hard time keeping their eyes of of her. One of the pilots in the room, who was there with his wife followed her around all night literally drooling. My husband kept coming over to me going “oh my god I feel sorry for his wife. what’s wrong with that guy”. But no one could say it out loud of course. He tracked my friend down at her office the next day and she told him to f—- off. Now whenever were at parties with this same group his behavior that night is like the elephant in the room. I have plenty of “secrets” that I know about folks. I worked with a man and woman both married to other people who had an affair that produced a child. The child nor the other spouses were ever told about the child’s origins. But the husband of the woman was led to believe it was his. That made for some uncomfortable social events as all of us who worked with her knew the truth. She had a big mouth when she was drinking. I’ve often wondered what ever happened with that child. She still didn’t know when she graduated highschool some years ago.