I recently heard a newscaster say that, “Everyone is complaining about…” something our national lawmakers had done and I thought, Wait a minute! I’m not complaining. Where did she get the idea I was protesting? Then I came to myself and realized the reporter was simply using a common expression. Of course she didn’t think “everyone” was on the same side of the issue. Did she?

The term “Everybody’s doing it,” has become as overused and void of meaning as placing blame on the elusive catchall “them” or “they.”

If they are doing it, then we surely ought to be doing it and then everybody will be doing it. And the cola company sells plenty of products using that circular reasoning. So do the political pundits on network television.

I am neither a lemming nor a person easily hypnotized. I’m old enough and wise to the ways of persuasion so when I see the vast majority going a direction, I stubbornly brake and give myself time to think. Consequently, I often miss out on the best of a buffet line, but little else of benefit, I think.

Remember when everybody was refinancing their homes? Imprudently using hormone replacement therapy? Eating and drinking saccharine? Microwaving in plastic?

Who is “they” and “everybody” and if we don’t know, should we follow?

Perhaps we ought to keep a journal to track all the things everybody is doing or ought to be doing, because it changes with the wind.

I look for a day when nobody trusts political commentary and everybody thinks for herself. If that ever happens, perhaps “they” will stop using such suggestion and innuendo to persuade the masses.