A co-worker of mine said today that he hated that everything we do gets criticized by someone. During part of the conversation, he also mentioned that once something written was made public and then questioned, an alternative meaning to the one meant (the alternative then necessitating clarification) often happens.
Writing, art, and other expressions do seem to have a life of their own. We need to do our best to be clear and then just go with the flow as what we say gets interpreted and passed on. An example, for me, was that until the change in administration, no one thought to ask me whether the name “rose garden” yoga had anything to do with Washington, DC. After the shift in January, a few people noticed how DC it could be and asked if my intent was to refer to the White House Rose Garden.
It was not my original intent to have that be one of the many things that came to mind when I chose the name, but I it works well enough if people think of the Rose Garden as one of the many possible referrents.
