whyever do people feel the need to go above & beyond to impress? don't hear me wrong, there's nothing wrong with making a good impression. it should be a goal as a person, as a christian, as an artist, as an employee, as a ... whatever. we should strive to make a good impression. but going above & beyond who we are to do so is nothing more than being a pompous idiot.
perfect example. i was shopping in trillium for baby gifts for some upcoming baby showers & i overheard some woman attempting to be pretentious. at first i cut her some slack. she was discussing with her mother, a woman who seemed to appear & act rather down to earth. it was obvious she thought her 50 year old daughter had lost it. her daughter was insisting that this 70 year old woman buy a "power suit", only she refused to let her mother purchase it in black. she insisted that if her mother had to have the suit, then she must purchase a turquoise (pronounced "tur-qwahz") shirt under it. at first i gave her the benefit of the doubt. but when she continued to use "turqwahz" another five times, together with the word "sassy" to describe a plain white cotton shirt which she was trying on, i gave up.
since my mind was already a million miles away, i began wondering to myself why people feel the need to impress others. we all do it. i do it. i see a need to impress someone with my wit or my knowledge or my intellect or relate to their situation. but i find that as i've gotten older it's been less a requirement to impress regular every day people. treat them with respect & kindness, yes. attempt to "prove" i am somehow better than them, no.
at some point it would seem to keep up the farce of impression would be to discount who we are as a person. it's essentially inflating a part of our personality & deemphasizing another. not an awful thing unless it becomes our assumed reality rather than our true reality.
those were my ponderings today.
for other wonderfully surprising ponderings & admissions of being human, check out without you my dear. i've met this girl once or twice (never officially) when i've attended her family's venue in greensboro, cafejam. she wouldn't know me from the man on the moon, but her writing has always entertained & impressed me. there's soul to it.
& i'll bet she doesn't see truth in impressing for the sake of impressing.
perfect example. i was shopping in trillium for baby gifts for some upcoming baby showers & i overheard some woman attempting to be pretentious. at first i cut her some slack. she was discussing with her mother, a woman who seemed to appear & act rather down to earth. it was obvious she thought her 50 year old daughter had lost it. her daughter was insisting that this 70 year old woman buy a "power suit", only she refused to let her mother purchase it in black. she insisted that if her mother had to have the suit, then she must purchase a turquoise (pronounced "tur-qwahz") shirt under it. at first i gave her the benefit of the doubt. but when she continued to use "turqwahz" another five times, together with the word "sassy" to describe a plain white cotton shirt which she was trying on, i gave up.
since my mind was already a million miles away, i began wondering to myself why people feel the need to impress others. we all do it. i do it. i see a need to impress someone with my wit or my knowledge or my intellect or relate to their situation. but i find that as i've gotten older it's been less a requirement to impress regular every day people. treat them with respect & kindness, yes. attempt to "prove" i am somehow better than them, no.
at some point it would seem to keep up the farce of impression would be to discount who we are as a person. it's essentially inflating a part of our personality & deemphasizing another. not an awful thing unless it becomes our assumed reality rather than our true reality.
those were my ponderings today.
for other wonderfully surprising ponderings & admissions of being human, check out without you my dear. i've met this girl once or twice (never officially) when i've attended her family's venue in greensboro, cafejam. she wouldn't know me from the man on the moon, but her writing has always entertained & impressed me. there's soul to it.
& i'll bet she doesn't see truth in impressing for the sake of impressing.
This entry was posted
on 14 July 2004 at 7/14/2004 09:06:00 PM.
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