Speaking about the public toilet habits of total strangers (see previous day's post), a few days ago I came upon this amusing story in one of the daily vernaculars I read that talks a great deal about ego, and how far we fool ourselves in our self-worth.
I tried to look it up again to faithfully reproduce it here, but as these things go I can't find the newspaper I read it in. However, I am confident that I will come across it when I don't need it as I go back hunting in the stack of old papers to share some other dose of something that I read (which invariably I will fail to locate).
Anyway I will try to paraphrase from memory the incident that I read about.
The location for the story was an airport and the gentleman in question was in transit, waiting to catch a connecting flight. At some point during the wait he (let's call him, Adam) had to use the washroom.
A few minutes after he entered the stall, shut the door and sat down to his business, he heard a fellow traveller get into the stall next to his.
Soon, he heard a voice from the next stall (was that also a knock?)... "Hi there, how you doing?"
Our man was flabbergasted! He could not imagine what he should do, after all how can one strike up a conversation with a complete stranger while in the stall? Not knowing exactly what he should do though, he decided to just reply and hope that was that.
“I'm good thanks,” Adam replied rather awkwardly (clearly he was not in his comfort zone).
Silence. Sigh of relief... thanks God.
Then... "So, what are you doing?" came the same voice from the next stall.
Now our man thought this a bit too much! What the heck did this guy think Adam was doing in the stall? Deciding not to raise what EXACTLY he was doing at the moment, he politely replied "Well, I'm waiting to catch in flight in an hour..."
“Great, great,” came the reply, “mind if I pop in?”
Now this was outrageous! Mind if he popped in? Of course Adam minded! Who was this pervert? Adam riled up his courage (after all this could some sort of psychopathic goon) and strongly replied “I don't think so!”
The voice in the stall kept quiet at that it seemed.
Good, thought Adam, with relief, then he heard the man say "Look I'll have to call you back. Every time I ask you a question, this jackass in the next stall keeps answering me."
Well there you have it, while the toilet habits of strangers CAN at times be unsettling... it is no more fantastical than our own estimation of our self-worth sometimes.
A Talatism truth is that not everything we see, or hear, or feel is necessarily relevant to our lives or solely for our consumption; even when it seems at first directed at us.
The runaway 'ego' must be reigned in to the fact that we are not always the subject of discussion and that everything does not beg for our commenting upon.
I have heard people say that “opinions are like a@!holes... everyone has one.” Expanding on that hard truth, we should remind ourselves that “just because we might have one, doesn't necessarily mean that we need to expose it.” It is a big mistake to always take all things in life (especially oneself) too seriously.
This post itself could be an example. Heh heh.
I tried to look it up again to faithfully reproduce it here, but as these things go I can't find the newspaper I read it in. However, I am confident that I will come across it when I don't need it as I go back hunting in the stack of old papers to share some other dose of something that I read (which invariably I will fail to locate).
Anyway I will try to paraphrase from memory the incident that I read about.
*
The location for the story was an airport and the gentleman in question was in transit, waiting to catch a connecting flight. At some point during the wait he (let's call him, Adam) had to use the washroom.
A few minutes after he entered the stall, shut the door and sat down to his business, he heard a fellow traveller get into the stall next to his.Soon, he heard a voice from the next stall (was that also a knock?)... "Hi there, how you doing?"
Our man was flabbergasted! He could not imagine what he should do, after all how can one strike up a conversation with a complete stranger while in the stall? Not knowing exactly what he should do though, he decided to just reply and hope that was that.
“I'm good thanks,” Adam replied rather awkwardly (clearly he was not in his comfort zone).
Silence. Sigh of relief... thanks God.
Then... "So, what are you doing?" came the same voice from the next stall.
Now our man thought this a bit too much! What the heck did this guy think Adam was doing in the stall? Deciding not to raise what EXACTLY he was doing at the moment, he politely replied "Well, I'm waiting to catch in flight in an hour..."
“Great, great,” came the reply, “mind if I pop in?”
Now this was outrageous! Mind if he popped in? Of course Adam minded! Who was this pervert? Adam riled up his courage (after all this could some sort of psychopathic goon) and strongly replied “I don't think so!”
The voice in the stall kept quiet at that it seemed.
Good, thought Adam, with relief, then he heard the man say "Look I'll have to call you back. Every time I ask you a question, this jackass in the next stall keeps answering me."
*
Well there you have it, while the toilet habits of strangers CAN at times be unsettling... it is no more fantastical than our own estimation of our self-worth sometimes.
A Talatism truth is that not everything we see, or hear, or feel is necessarily relevant to our lives or solely for our consumption; even when it seems at first directed at us.
The runaway 'ego' must be reigned in to the fact that we are not always the subject of discussion and that everything does not beg for our commenting upon.
I have heard people say that “opinions are like a@!holes... everyone has one.” Expanding on that hard truth, we should remind ourselves that “just because we might have one, doesn't necessarily mean that we need to expose it.” It is a big mistake to always take all things in life (especially oneself) too seriously.
This post itself could be an example. Heh heh.
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