I was on facebook the other day and I came across a friends status. It was a status about what he had seen. He saw an old woman steal an umbrella out of the trunk of a car that had been in an accident and was abandoned on the side of the road. The post said that she tried the doors but they were all locked, all she got was the umbrella.
Out of the 11 comments on this status only 2 were not about how funny it was that she was stealing the umbrella out of a wrecked car. The very first comment was "how sad" and my comment was about how it was sad...the other 9 made it a joke.
What is funny about that picture? How is it a joke that anyone, especially an old lady, feels she has no option but to steal something from a wrecked car?
It could easily be you, your mother, your sister, your friend that is in the place in their life where they have to turn into a scavenger. No one "wants" to be put in that situation, but how many paychecks are you away from living on the street? What if your company closed up shop tomorrow? What would you do? Would you still be the one laughing?
You can't fix all the problems in the world. You can't solve world hunger or fix the unemployment problem in America. The thing that bothers me is that you don't want to.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
First impressions...
Today I found out that two different adults think I'm quiet and two youth think I'm stuck up! Apparently I didn't talk to any of them enough. I have never thought of myself as quiet or reserved and if you ask most people who know me they would agree with me (not these 4 individuals.)
I was a little bit concerned that two of the youth think I'm stuck up, but really it got me thinking. What do people think when they first meet me? I am going to have to start paying closer attention to how I interact with people that I don't really know.
That got me thinking about how we see ourselves vs. how other people see us. We know why we do and say all the things we do and say. Other people don't have the luxury of knowing what is going on behind the scenes. That is why things like online dating services and even a facebook profile can be a false picture of who we really are on the inside. When my friends fill out surveys having to do with personalities I normally don't agree with the results. Why? They are not being honest about who they really are, they are answering the questions with what they want to be like.
If you really want to know who you are or what kind of personality you have then you need to give your close friends a blind survey! Either that or get some honest friends...but even then, your friends may not be the best judge of how you really act. They will be biased and judge you based on what they know of you.
So what can we do? Everyone sees you through their own tinted glasses. How can we be sure we are acting like we want to act and being the person we want to be? Look at the results. Look at the people who are close to you. What kind of people are they? Who do you draw to you, what people follow you? That will tell you if you are the kind of person that you thought you were.
Also be open to honest feedback. I'm going to go out of my way to make sure people don't think I'm stuck up. I'm probably not going to be too much more vocal around the two people who thought I was quiet because they know me from work. I'm quieter at work, I can deal with that.
This was just a thought. Pay attention to how you treat others. Especially if they don't know you very well. We have more power with our words and actions than you might think.
I was a little bit concerned that two of the youth think I'm stuck up, but really it got me thinking. What do people think when they first meet me? I am going to have to start paying closer attention to how I interact with people that I don't really know.
That got me thinking about how we see ourselves vs. how other people see us. We know why we do and say all the things we do and say. Other people don't have the luxury of knowing what is going on behind the scenes. That is why things like online dating services and even a facebook profile can be a false picture of who we really are on the inside. When my friends fill out surveys having to do with personalities I normally don't agree with the results. Why? They are not being honest about who they really are, they are answering the questions with what they want to be like.
If you really want to know who you are or what kind of personality you have then you need to give your close friends a blind survey! Either that or get some honest friends...but even then, your friends may not be the best judge of how you really act. They will be biased and judge you based on what they know of you.
So what can we do? Everyone sees you through their own tinted glasses. How can we be sure we are acting like we want to act and being the person we want to be? Look at the results. Look at the people who are close to you. What kind of people are they? Who do you draw to you, what people follow you? That will tell you if you are the kind of person that you thought you were.
Also be open to honest feedback. I'm going to go out of my way to make sure people don't think I'm stuck up. I'm probably not going to be too much more vocal around the two people who thought I was quiet because they know me from work. I'm quieter at work, I can deal with that.
This was just a thought. Pay attention to how you treat others. Especially if they don't know you very well. We have more power with our words and actions than you might think.
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