We're in a relationship.

I can just start writing and figure out the "topic" later, or I can figure out a topic and just sit here until it's figured.

As you can see, I've made my choice.

What you actually see, is I made my choice but you don't see how long I sat here first thinking of topics before making it. Writing is selecting. Some stuff you get to see, other stuff is invisible or edited out. For example, if I didn't tell you, you'd have no way of knowing that two hours have passed since the previous sentence. Some things needed to be done in a timely manner, but I'm back now. Thanks for waiting [insert smiley face ].

However, the fact that what you get to read isn't the unedited flow of my consciousness doesn't make it lies. I'm making a best effort, which requires things like, say, fixing typos at a minimum. As you probably know if you ever tried to write anything, it always deviates somewhat from what you'd intended to express. It had to be pushed through the strainer of language.

Take the word "gratitude" for example. We'd said it was a feeling, but we ignored the fact that it exists in a relationship. And take the word "relationship." I use it to mean anything in the field of (let's say) two people, even if they are strangers whose contact lasted for a moment--e.g. when you paid for a Metrocard (what we New Yorkers use to ride the subway). In this respect, I suspect I'm in the minority of users of the word "relationship."

Often, metrocards (I'm going with the lowercase 'm' now) are bought from machines, and often machines will say (or "say") "Thank you." I don't admit to relationships between person and machine. I realize I've lost the following of the A.I. community, or of those expecting the so-called singularity touted by Kurzweil. Those relationships, if they even existed, may just have to come to an end at this point.

Also, some gratitude is public. I'm thinking of that expressed by a winner at an awards ceremony. And some gratitude is required to be public if it is to be taken seriously by the recipient. If someone thanked me for helping them but omitted my name from the list of those thanked publicly, I'd have to wonder what that meant.