[Today’s run: 2 miles with wife and dog]
On my recent trip I again watched some television. I had a bit more success with limiting that, but it happens.
One of the shows I watched was House. You’ve probably seen it. This doctor guy is some kind of top-notch expert. But the real drama of the show is his abrasive-truth personality. He spends a lot of time saying outrageous things to manipulate people or make them feel better or whatever. You get the impression that he is a “good” guy, in the grouchy old man kind of way. It is like a Dr. Laura on steroids.
I’m not much good as a grouch. I get the grumbling down pretty well but I have a couple of problems.
First is that I have a tendency to exaggerate (No kidding!?!) and I sometimes have trouble controlling that. So I’ll never make a good abrasive-truth person if I can’t stick to “truth”.
Second is that I would rather have people like me. Someone says, “what do you think of my new haircut”. My first thought might be that it reminds me of the rear-ends of those monkeys at the zoo. (Note to wife: Although I rarely like your haircuts, none of them have reminded me of the monkeys at the zoo.) Saying the first thing that comes to mind is not effective in a relationship-building sense. And I would rather have relationships than say everything that pops into my head, even on the rare occasion that its true.
House doesn’t worry so much about relationship building. He is such a perfect doctor that he can “get away with” being abusive. You get the impression that he has some kind of mental illness that makes him be antisocial. But it is an entertaining show.