I'd like to believe I am pretty frank and straightforward. If I feel there is something that someone needs to know I tell that person and not go through so many avenues. Of course I weigh the pros and cons first and come up with a non-threatening or "attacking" way to send the message across. Or see if the other person will take it with an open mind and heart. In that way, the other person wont be defensive and wont lead to a blowout or a misunderstanding. It doesn't always work but at least the intent is there. It doesn't always happen either. If after weighing everything it was concluded that it will still cause some friction or hurt then I guess I might as well just shut up and try to let it go or better yet post a blog about it and hoping that it wont go beyond. 
There is always that, I don't know fear I guess or apprehension of being misunderstood, misconstrued and of hurting or offending someone. I guess its just but human nature to feel that way.
Back in grade school I think, in one of our classes, we played this game called "Message Relay". Basically the students were divided into groups, made to form a single line. The first person gets the sentence from a slip of paper from our teacher and he/she passes it to the one behind by whispering the sentence and so on until it reaches the last person. He or she then either writes or says the sentence out loud and see how close it was to the original. The results were often hilarious because some of the sentences were so far off. It was fun then but I didn't realize I would take some life lessons from it now.
In the course that the message traveled, things get added and removed as it gets passed on from people to people that at times it takes a life of its own. At times it takes a whole different meaning than its original statement. There are times that the major parts are the ones that gets edited out, left with the trivial things that really don't make any sense but made or rather forced to make sense of but still not the same.
Some may argue it was just a game but it cannot be denied that it happens in real life too, with real issues and real emotions and this is when it becomes sticky. It becomes sticky because not everyone refers to the original sentence or to the first person in the line, to verify and make the comparison before making any conclusion. Some even go away from the line and before you know it, it has branched out to people outside of the line. I have found myself at all parts of the line. I may have passed on the message with missing or additional parts. I am sure it has happened and will still happen. But I think of late I stop and think first before passing it on. If I am doubtful of it, I still pass it on but I include my doubt with it so the next person can pick up on that and can either not go on passing it as if it was the reality or pass it on with the additional doubt.
But some people either do not have the time or the willingness to stop and ponder on what they have heard. Some just takes whatever that was passed on to them as the "truth" with its additions and subtractions and its multiplications and divisions. Its not like during the game in school where we go back to the original slip of paper to check how near or far we are from the "truth". In life, this doesn't always happen. Not everyone would go to the source to verify its validity. Why are some people like that? What stops them from doing so? Is JackNicholson's famous "you cant handle the truth" line in "AFewGoodMen" really true? That we'd rather let ourselves believe in a fallacy or a half-truth rather than face it because there is that fear that we wont be able to handle it. So we then chose to hide behind the perceived truth because either it serves us a purpose or it makes us feel good whether in the expense or not of someone else or it shields us from possible hurt and pain both to others and to our own selves.
I am not really sure what I am trying to drive at but all I know is, this game was so much more fun when it was within the walls of the classroom and not dragged on to real life. At least then we were still concerned on making sure it was right and close to the truth. I cannot say the same about real life and thats just the saddest thing.
There is always that, I don't know fear I guess or apprehension of being misunderstood, misconstrued and of hurting or offending someone. I guess its just but human nature to feel that way.Back in grade school I think, in one of our classes, we played this game called "Message Relay". Basically the students were divided into groups, made to form a single line. The first person gets the sentence from a slip of paper from our teacher and he/she passes it to the one behind by whispering the sentence and so on until it reaches the last person. He or she then either writes or says the sentence out loud and see how close it was to the original. The results were often hilarious because some of the sentences were so far off. It was fun then but I didn't realize I would take some life lessons from it now.
In the course that the message traveled, things get added and removed as it gets passed on from people to people that at times it takes a life of its own. At times it takes a whole different meaning than its original statement. There are times that the major parts are the ones that gets edited out, left with the trivial things that really don't make any sense but made or rather forced to make sense of but still not the same.
Some may argue it was just a game but it cannot be denied that it happens in real life too, with real issues and real emotions and this is when it becomes sticky. It becomes sticky because not everyone refers to the original sentence or to the first person in the line, to verify and make the comparison before making any conclusion. Some even go away from the line and before you know it, it has branched out to people outside of the line. I have found myself at all parts of the line. I may have passed on the message with missing or additional parts. I am sure it has happened and will still happen. But I think of late I stop and think first before passing it on. If I am doubtful of it, I still pass it on but I include my doubt with it so the next person can pick up on that and can either not go on passing it as if it was the reality or pass it on with the additional doubt.
But some people either do not have the time or the willingness to stop and ponder on what they have heard. Some just takes whatever that was passed on to them as the "truth" with its additions and subtractions and its multiplications and divisions. Its not like during the game in school where we go back to the original slip of paper to check how near or far we are from the "truth". In life, this doesn't always happen. Not everyone would go to the source to verify its validity. Why are some people like that? What stops them from doing so? Is JackNicholson's famous "you cant handle the truth" line in "AFewGoodMen" really true? That we'd rather let ourselves believe in a fallacy or a half-truth rather than face it because there is that fear that we wont be able to handle it. So we then chose to hide behind the perceived truth because either it serves us a purpose or it makes us feel good whether in the expense or not of someone else or it shields us from possible hurt and pain both to others and to our own selves.
I am not really sure what I am trying to drive at but all I know is, this game was so much more fun when it was within the walls of the classroom and not dragged on to real life. At least then we were still concerned on making sure it was right and close to the truth. I cannot say the same about real life and thats just the saddest thing.
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