I met a really nice guy, once
I met this really nice guy, once. So nice I was actually struck by how nice he was. That kind of nice where you walk away thinking, wow, that was just really nice. No ulterior motives. No, even, leaving room to speculate about ulterior motives (which I can /always/ find room to speculate about).
And I liked having this little memory (it was nice, you know?), and one day I got to talking to some other guy and somehow he came up and "Yeah", I said, "— man is he nice."
"Well..." said this dude.
"What do you mean, 'Well...'?", I asked. "I think this one's pretty straightforward."
and he got to thinking out loud and hedging and saying "I shouldn't" (not very believably) but eventually he explained, "I mean, I knew him /before/ and, this is going to sound weird, but, he was always acting like he was going to be famous; couldn't stop talking about how brilliant he was and how much people should admire him. I think he just seems nice now because, now that everyone in the world is saying that for him, he has energy for other things."
I've always wondered whether people actually like other people, or if they just like themselves in the context of those other people. And I guess there has to be some overlap. And I suppose there's a difference between liking (and appreciating) and loving, and abstract recognition of intersubjectivity is tied up in there somewhere, but do you keep people around just 'cause they make you feel good (or, less bad), and is being on the same page (or, team) the same as internalizing all that good press? Do you think we all have to feel famous(/ly appreciated) to, just, varying levels on the public/private continuum?
And I liked having this little memory (it was nice, you know?), and one day I got to talking to some other guy and somehow he came up and "Yeah", I said, "— man is he nice."
"Well..." said this dude.
"What do you mean, 'Well...'?", I asked. "I think this one's pretty straightforward."
and he got to thinking out loud and hedging and saying "I shouldn't" (not very believably) but eventually he explained, "I mean, I knew him /before/ and, this is going to sound weird, but, he was always acting like he was going to be famous; couldn't stop talking about how brilliant he was and how much people should admire him. I think he just seems nice now because, now that everyone in the world is saying that for him, he has energy for other things."
I've always wondered whether people actually like other people, or if they just like themselves in the context of those other people. And I guess there has to be some overlap. And I suppose there's a difference between liking (and appreciating) and loving, and abstract recognition of intersubjectivity is tied up in there somewhere, but do you keep people around just 'cause they make you feel good (or, less bad), and is being on the same page (or, team) the same as internalizing all that good press? Do you think we all have to feel famous(/ly appreciated) to, just, varying levels on the public/private continuum?
<< Home