(no subject)
We were talking about the Anti-Western/Americanism in the Islamic Middle East today...and how to fix it (we failed) But it made me think. And as thoughts wander and split from one another, my actual question is not related at all to the Middle East.
Has anyone ever known someone who drastically changed a part of his or her personality? Not the kind of clothes they wear or how they dress or what religion they are, but their actual personality? Did anyone become less arrogant or less mean or meaner or less obnoxious?
I know many people who have changed, but it's usually something like "He used to bathe and write awful poetry, now he bathes and is happier" - but he still has the same insecurities and sense of humor, I think. So that doesn't count. My best friend from home, Kate, changes all the time. In the 7 or 8 years that we've been friends, she has been an atheist, liberal Christian, fundamental Christian, Jewish, atheist again, a smoker, against smoking, a secret smoker who doesn't tell me because she thinks I'll make fun of her for starting again, a staunch smoker who blows smoke in peoples faces, a coffee drinker, anti-caffeine, a drinker, a nondrinker, intent on marriage and children, violently opposed to children, claiming that she won't marry until she's over 30, in love with Manhattan culture, in love with Texas culture, dating boys for their cars, dating only Jewish boys, dating only black men and now she's in a pleasant relationship with a boy from home who has my whole hearted approval. But during all of her fads and obsessions, she has always, always retained the same personality. And this is how we have remained friends. I still believe that she is the weirdest person I've ever met, hands down, beating all the freaky McGillites. Not for lack of social skills or a plethora of weird pagan rituals, but because I have known her for so many years and she can still shock me. Last summer's Judaism phase came out of left field.
But I can't think of anyone who has changed their basic personality. Maybe Paul has changed? He sounds much *MUCH* different in the stories from his Sophomore & Junior year. But he sounds the same in stories of his childhood up to his Freshman year. I don't know.
I haven't changed. I have always been the girl who smiles a lot and says odd things and laughs too much. I remember when I was 6 and I asked my mom why people used the word "weird" as if it were an insult. She said that people generally preferred other people who were like them. I said that was stupid and that I wanted to be weird. So far, I have lived up to my 6-year-old-version-of-me standards.
My mom changed. But she is also on hardcore painkillers 24/7 and has been since I was 13, so I consider her altered personality a result of massive doses of codeine.
Is there a difference between changing and maturing? Or the process of growing up?
Oh well. I have to research and write a paper. I should probably go do that.
Has anyone ever known someone who drastically changed a part of his or her personality? Not the kind of clothes they wear or how they dress or what religion they are, but their actual personality? Did anyone become less arrogant or less mean or meaner or less obnoxious?
I know many people who have changed, but it's usually something like "He used to bathe and write awful poetry, now he bathes and is happier" - but he still has the same insecurities and sense of humor, I think. So that doesn't count. My best friend from home, Kate, changes all the time. In the 7 or 8 years that we've been friends, she has been an atheist, liberal Christian, fundamental Christian, Jewish, atheist again, a smoker, against smoking, a secret smoker who doesn't tell me because she thinks I'll make fun of her for starting again, a staunch smoker who blows smoke in peoples faces, a coffee drinker, anti-caffeine, a drinker, a nondrinker, intent on marriage and children, violently opposed to children, claiming that she won't marry until she's over 30, in love with Manhattan culture, in love with Texas culture, dating boys for their cars, dating only Jewish boys, dating only black men and now she's in a pleasant relationship with a boy from home who has my whole hearted approval. But during all of her fads and obsessions, she has always, always retained the same personality. And this is how we have remained friends. I still believe that she is the weirdest person I've ever met, hands down, beating all the freaky McGillites. Not for lack of social skills or a plethora of weird pagan rituals, but because I have known her for so many years and she can still shock me. Last summer's Judaism phase came out of left field.
But I can't think of anyone who has changed their basic personality. Maybe Paul has changed? He sounds much *MUCH* different in the stories from his Sophomore & Junior year. But he sounds the same in stories of his childhood up to his Freshman year. I don't know.
I haven't changed. I have always been the girl who smiles a lot and says odd things and laughs too much. I remember when I was 6 and I asked my mom why people used the word "weird" as if it were an insult. She said that people generally preferred other people who were like them. I said that was stupid and that I wanted to be weird. So far, I have lived up to my 6-year-old-version-of-me standards.
My mom changed. But she is also on hardcore painkillers 24/7 and has been since I was 13, so I consider her altered personality a result of massive doses of codeine.
Is there a difference between changing and maturing? Or the process of growing up?
Oh well. I have to research and write a paper. I should probably go do that.