ode to self-control?
are you ever just amazed at the amount of self-restraint the average adult possesses? i mean, occasionally it hits me: at any moment, i could blurt out the most inappropriate comment. i could say the one thing guaranteed to offend present company, but nine times out of ten (okay, seven times out of ten, perhaps), "present company" consists of people i like and would never care to offend, so i don't dream of doing it.
so why do those things even enter my mind in the first place? and why do i get a slightly delicious thrill out of 1) the split-second fantasy of going wild and saying whatever awful thing is floating around; and 2) the recognition that the only thing holding me back from shouting the verbal weaponry is the control i have over myself? this seems very wrong.
it isn't often that i ponder this phenomenon, but i just happen to be pondering it at the moment, so i thought i'd share. young children don't have this problem, and that makes me think this might relate to the discussions(s) we've been having about how great it would be if everyone could just be honest and say what they were feeling. but this isn't quite the same. or is it? in both cases it's about holding back and about putting on a face that doesn't correspond to one's thoughts.
hmm.e
so why do those things even enter my mind in the first place? and why do i get a slightly delicious thrill out of 1) the split-second fantasy of going wild and saying whatever awful thing is floating around; and 2) the recognition that the only thing holding me back from shouting the verbal weaponry is the control i have over myself? this seems very wrong.
it isn't often that i ponder this phenomenon, but i just happen to be pondering it at the moment, so i thought i'd share. young children don't have this problem, and that makes me think this might relate to the discussions(s) we've been having about how great it would be if everyone could just be honest and say what they were feeling. but this isn't quite the same. or is it? in both cases it's about holding back and about putting on a face that doesn't correspond to one's thoughts.
hmm.e