Friday, April 1, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Food for Thought: Character Assignments
Yesterday I received a message from someone which was written in a seemingly supportive way, but felt incredibly condescending.
Since the flat tone of email allows ample room for projection, I worried I was reading too far into things.
But I realized that with this particular person, I have come to generally assume that her comments will be made in that tone...in a sense, I've assigned condescension to her as one of her principal characteristics.
Which led me to wonder: Are there some adjectives we cannot determine FOR ourselves ABOUT ourselves? Some characteristics that must, instead, be decided by others?
I doubt someone would ever feel that they are purposely condescending, but perhaps it's not something for them to decide; in all likelihood they wouldn't recognize the quality in themselves. Rather, someone who is the direct recipient of the condescension can be the only best judge.
It's disconcerting to think that our self-assessments aren't the only opinions that matter. I was recently told that there are three stories in life: Yours, The Other Guy's, and The Truth. They all matter, and all factor in, but there are so many shades of gray between them.
How much of your opinion versus the other guy's makes the truth of who you are?
What do you think?
Cxx.
Since the flat tone of email allows ample room for projection, I worried I was reading too far into things.
But I realized that with this particular person, I have come to generally assume that her comments will be made in that tone...in a sense, I've assigned condescension to her as one of her principal characteristics.
Which led me to wonder: Are there some adjectives we cannot determine FOR ourselves ABOUT ourselves? Some characteristics that must, instead, be decided by others?
I doubt someone would ever feel that they are purposely condescending, but perhaps it's not something for them to decide; in all likelihood they wouldn't recognize the quality in themselves. Rather, someone who is the direct recipient of the condescension can be the only best judge.
It's disconcerting to think that our self-assessments aren't the only opinions that matter. I was recently told that there are three stories in life: Yours, The Other Guy's, and The Truth. They all matter, and all factor in, but there are so many shades of gray between them.
How much of your opinion versus the other guy's makes the truth of who you are?
What do you think?
Cxx.
Better Book Titles -- A Guaranteed Laugh
I am consistently in awe of book titles as either 1) perfect summaries of their contents, or 2) pitch-perfect marketing ploys.
But sometimes a cover should be judged by its book, and a Tumblr account has been created that does just that.
So, with all due respect to some of the world's greatest authors, here are several of my favorites from the Better Book Titles collection:
But sometimes a cover should be judged by its book, and a Tumblr account has been created that does just that.
So, with all due respect to some of the world's greatest authors, here are several of my favorites from the Better Book Titles collection:
As a lactose-intolerant, nearly-vegetarian Celiac, I concur:
Raise your hand if you've been there (if your hand's still down you're only lying to yourself):
Truth.:
A fun, well-crafted read, but, yeah, pretty much:
Let's call a spade a spade:
And, my top 3:
You can check out the full archives HERE.
Cxx.
(P.S. Thanks to my pall JK for posting this on Facebook and bringing it to my attention.)
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