I was presented with an interesting dilemma today, do I rationally argue against a statement and thus respond with a degree of honesty or do I keep my mouth shut and turn the other cheek in that way that only Brits can do and then moan about it later on?
Man on Train: Do you know how important I am?
Me: Hmm, interesting question, and of course a subjective one. With regard to your wife and/ or children I would hazard a guess that you are vastly important, in relation to the human race, not so much.
In relation to me, not at all. Does that answer your query?
Man On Train: (unnerving quiet)
Of course that is the conversation I had with the man on the train after the event and in the comfort of my own imagination. In the moment I just looked skyward and muttered something about the fact that he was sooo important that he didn't travel in first class. Is it dishonest not to vocalise your thoughts in the immediate sense and then play it out later with a different version in your mind or is this all part of how we rationalise communication in today's society? The man was clearly an egotistical twat, the world did not need me to point out such a blinding fact nor would he have been able to take on such a concept. Additionally it's just my opinion based on my value sets and no-one else's.
I wonder about this because we put such weight on "being honest" or to use the parlance of our times "not being fake".
Coupled with this is also an emerging cottage industry of psychotherapy called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT which capitalises on the notion of rational and balanced thought in such situations. Which seems to be about de-programming all of the crap we have been systematically taught about being fearful, paranoid and neurotic. It promises a reverse trend from The Age of Panic we currently reside in, however it seems nothing more than teaching you how to think normally. The fact that it is so widespread would indicate we are a nation of abnormal thinkers, hence the importance of being honest.
Friday, May 02, 2008
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1 comments:
Totally true ... and I'm proud to say, that from time to time on the commute to work, I stare at people who are talking on their mobile phones ... it is payback for intrusive behaviour. One day, this guy finished his conversation and said, "Have you got a problem?" and because I had been thinking about this for the last fifteen minutes, I had an instant reply, "Yes, you are irritating me" to which he proclaimed he had to deal with business ... I had thought about this too, "No, you could switch your mobile off and be unavailable during transit, but you choose not to". He didn't want to play along after that and so stared out of the window until we got to Canon Street.
I don't often pipe up ... I'm too british ... but I walked to work with a spring in my step that day.
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