No, today's journey into my mind is going to be about how we treat each other, based upon how we truly see each other. This is going to be about perception.
Let me explain. A few months ago, I began using my Twitter account ... I had always thought Twitter to be a monumental waste of time and nothing more than an ego-fest littered with big personalities and tiny brains with nothing better to do than to give each other's ego massive and continuous stroking, a sort of ego-centered masturbatory exercise in narcissism. Nothing I have seen in the ensuing few months has changed my mind on that count.
Still, I have been surprised to find some genuine people lurking behind the glitz, glamor, and "Gaga-like" displays of diva-dom. I have met many of these people, face-to-face ... and pleasantly, I have found them to be real, genuine, authentic people. These are the kind of folks you can count on to say hello when you approach, to return a smile when one is offered, and to actually give a damn about what you are saying when you engage them in conversation.
Of course, for every real person, there are two self-absorbed, vapid, mindless wastes of human DNA who would just as soon step on your 'nads as smile in your direction. Users. Losers. Abusers.
Of course, this is all a matter of perception, how I see things, isn't it?
Certainly, it is ... and just as certainly, my perceptions are shaped by the images others project. Likewise, how I am perceived depends on the images I project.
So my question here is this: Why do we sometimes project an authentic image and other times project one that is contrary to everything we truly are inside? Why are we not genuine all the time?
Could the answer be ... we are? Could those swings in image be a true reflection of our genuine selves?
Could we really be that shallow? Could we really be that unfeeling? Could we really be that unlikeable?
We all have within us the capability to be all of those things. Ethos, Pathos, and Logos - credibility, emotion, and logic - are all at play within us. But for some, Pathos takes control and all Ethos and Logos are in the wind! Thinking with your ego - your heart - instead of your intelligence leads to pain, confusion, anger, self-loathing ...
I see these characteristics within everyone. But what sets the genuine apart from the "wannabe's" is their ability to understand who they are, and to be who they are without apology.
Genuine people are comfortable in their own skin, and they don't need to remind everyone who they are every other moment they are around you. And last weekend, I met a houseful of those people.
One in particular, though, bears a special mention. Though I won't name names here, many of you will know of whom I speak. He moved among the celebrants quietly and unassumingly, and when he was stopped and identified by the various people at the party, he was humble, almost embarassed by the attention. Quietly, with his shy smile, he conveyed a genuine charm that makes him who he is: a giant among those in his world. Yet, by his body of professional accomplishment alone, this man was bigger than everyone there ... and he was the last one to trade that body of work. Humble doesn't begine to describe him.
Still, of all the people I met that night, he was the most impressive, not by what he said or did, but merely by being genuine.
We should all be so great!
No comments:
Post a Comment