Filter

Merril chose the word from the dictionary.  Her finger fell on the word “filter.”  It was quiet a long definition saying it was a noun and verb “device for freeing liquids from suspended matter, esp. by passing them through unsized paper or stratum of sand, charcoal etc…”  Getting the picture that it could be a noun or a verb was enough in my book. 
It got worse in Merriam-Webster.  It said it could be used as a transitive verb or intransitive one.  I had had enough by that time.  I thought I was doing well just to know it was a verb or noun.  I did however like its definition of filter “a porous article or mass (as of paper or sand) through which a gas or liquid is passed to separate out matter in suspension”
I can dig that.  Figuratively.  I also thought of a filter as removing unwanted stuff.  One of the gold hunter programs we watch shows people filtering out rock and other stuff so they are left with gold.  The sieve I use at home is a filter.  I am yet to find a 1464 coin and I suspect I won’t.  I use it to remove fine particles, so I know what I am looking at.  I also use a filter when pouring petrol, so no large particles clog the device I am using.
There are heaps of filters about.  The mask I wear at the moment when out is a filter.  I have filters on my camera.  The sunglasses I wear filter out the UV rays.  I am constantly amazed how by putting on sunglasses I can often see fish in the water that I could not see before.  They are mostly little fish.  While it may be true a little fish catches a big fish, I am over little fish.
It seems to me sometimes what I go through is like a filtering process.  I admit I do not like it even if I know it does me good.  Gunk like a bad attitude is never a pretty site.  But admittedly it is good when it has gone.
It seems to me there are many types of filters and the best ones for me are the ones fit for purpose.  I would probably get rid of a filter I never use.  Pointless.  We have kept some filters here as they are useful to us.
We try to keep filters that are useful but “doh” moments happen.  If we need it, we need it.  I think I needed a filter the other day.  It was so humid or moist I expected to need to filter out the fish swimming by.
But when I do have a particular goal in mind, less is more.  I often need to get rid of stuff to get a concentration of the stuff I am after.  Often it takes several passes and when I have exhausted that lot I move on to the next.
I am either seen as a sucker for punishment, or single minded in pursuit of what I may be after.  Either way, what is valuable is often contained inside what is rubbish to me.  There is normally a price to pay for anything worth going after.  Often a filter is needed to extract the good stuff.