Musings of a troubled mind

[Gryphon]

I had a thought today.

 

I was watching the start of Bedazzled and thinking that I've known people like Brendan Fraser was acting at the start of that movie...

 

People who are nice enough in very small doses but after prolonged exposure to them they just begin to annoy you... lots.

 

I expect that most people know someone like this. You might even count them as a friend some of the time, but every now and then you just wish they'd go away - but they dont - because thats not their nature.

 

So I was sitting there and watching the start of Bedazzled, and thinking of some of the people at my own work who I think of in much that same way and my thought occured.

 

What if some other people think that I'm like that? What if there are people I work with each day who think that I'm a pain in the a$$ and they wish I'd go away?

 

Thoughts like that are enough to make you paranoid about what everyone around you is thinking... So here's the question - would the world be better or worse if people really knew what the other person thought of them?

 

I suspect the answer is no... I hate paranoia inducing thoughts like this one. Am I the only one who thinks this way? - all replies and random responses are encouraged... unless you all just wish I'd go away... aaarrrgghhh!!

Edited August 23, 2004 by Gryphon

[Mynx]

As much as I wish I knew what some people thought of me, I believe that in this case, ignorance is bliss.

If you knew what everyone thought of you, it could eventually be destructive to your own peace of mind, as you desperately try and change yourself to fit in with the people you want to be with.

Even the people who don't care what people think of them would be affected by knowing everyone's opinion of them.

[cryptomancer]

I gave up worrying what people thought of me at the end of highschool.

 

When I went to uni I put up a wall...

 

I taught myself to read people, by watching them, and to mask my own thoughts.

 

It works, most of the time.

 

[Peredhil]

Personally I try not to establish or validate my identity by using other people. So if I could read minds and know for sure, I'd prolly still look at myself pretty much the way I already do.

 

In other words, I've chosen my values, standards, and implimentation, and am "broadcast only" for much of it. Although I think if someone is going to be that way, a base value system like the bible Christianity (which I differ from much of the implementation I see in the world by people (including me all too often (, it's a process to a goal not a goal already accomplished in my life, at least,))) that considers others valuable is a pretty safe center from which to start. Otherwise, I'd be more of a jerk than I am.

 

Good thoughtful question.

 

Pensive Peredhil

[Finnius]

Otherwise, I'd be more of a jerk than I am.

Er? Did I miss something somewhere? Monsieur le Half-elf a jerk? Well, only in the jerking people away from things that its best they not be near... like a big, three-headed chihuahua.

 

Anyway, I very much agree with Big P on the question there...

 

S'best to define yourself *for* yourself, and if you're happy with who you are, then it doesn't matter what others think of you. (Which, by the way, tends to lend a confidence that can actually be quite attractive to others... confidence = good.)

 

But the point there is that we can only be what we are. Anything else is just a sidenote to the fact of our shared humanity... It's in the figuring that out that people get lost. Or at least, that's my take on it.

[Zadown]

I'd both hate to know what other people think and let other people know what I think. Only people I've never really thought bad things about have been my girlfriends at the I'm-in-love-and-everything-is-funny-shade-of-pink -phase. Say I'm at my old army buddy's place sleeping on their sofa and he has to leave for work at 7am and wakes me up - what point there'd be for him to see that I'm thinking something along the lines of "stop that noisy showering and get lost already so I can sleep 'till 11am in an empty apartment"?

 

And there's far worse cases than that, faaar worse... it's not the abstract thoughts that count, it is what you do about them.

[Lady Celes Crusader]

I did learned a very harsh lesson in my youth: you cannot control what other people think of you. So I did stop worrying about doing everything to please others and doing things my way and staying myself. Sure, I've made friends and ennemies in the process but, at least, I'm true to myself and that's what it matters the most.