 |
| Thinking fast and slow |
Meeting an old friend a few days ago, we talked about this and that and caught up on what had to be old news because we hadn't met for nearly a year. Carrie was her expressive self. Clearly, her encounter with the Alexander Technique in the past had held her in excellent stead. A tall, straight and elegant octogenarian with a gentle wildness of white locks tumbling around her head, she regaled us with her adventures in Nepal where she lives for most of the year.
-Oh, but you should have been at my party on Friday, she said. -I had lots of people come round. If I'd known you were in town I'd have let you know. Why didn't you contact me? I've been here for two-months now.
Having had no idea there had been a party in her spacious, New Town, Georgian tenement, no doubt with personable, distinctive folk full of ideas and opinions, I felt a slight feeling of self-reproach and made a mental note to communicate more in the future.
I always remember Carrie advising me to have an opinion. This advice didn't conflict with my idea of being non-judgemental. -How could we advance if no one had an opinion about matters that affect us? I thought. -Is it not right to become involved and influence events if they seem unjust, dangerous or threatening? I further justified.
-We were talking about Scottish Independence and had a vote, Carrie told me, -and what do you think the result was? she asked.
-I guess most people were for it, I told her.
-That's right, she concurred. -And how would you vote?
I thought about it. -I'm not sure. There are advantages and disadvantages either way.
Without going into the details of the rest of the conversation, suffice it to say that the topic veered around a bit and what transpired was that the question of happiness versus satisfaction stood up on their hind legs in diametrically opposed corners of the ring, and took their gloves off.
*
No comments:
Post a Comment