Greetings!
Visiting the blog, A Sudden Unexpected Twist (I love that title because the word EXPECT is dead-central to it!), I left a comment on a quotation of Oscar Wilde. Then I thought it would make a post here, as I have been naughty and not added more posts recently. Though, I see I have 129 junk comments , mostly in Russian, to clear from my Dashboard!
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
Oscar Wilde entertains, with clever words. But, wisdom is usually elsewhere. I think there is a danger in the first sentence, if anyone applies it personally. It disempowers. Of course, the second sentence explains his meaning.
The quotation reminds me of something in one of Leo Buscasglia’s books. (Yes! What a surname! He was the first to offer a university module in California on Love. Outrageous at the time. Called ridiculous! Quite unnecessary! Hundreds applied.)
One of his students criticised him by saying, “Leo, you said something quite different on Monday!” He answered, “I was a quite different person then!” He meant we constantly grow and change. We should aim to do things differently and to create new experiences constantly.
Change habits. Why do you put your right shoe or sock on first? Dress differently every morning because it adds curiosity and creativity. How many ways can you shower? And tie your shoelaces? Always do something you have never done before: small and large. Speak to new people. Find something amazing about them, and tell them. Then, find more. Find things to love, genuinely. (This interests interesting people.) Fascination is all around us. In the eyes of a baby. The way we always comb our hair. An insect that is frightened. (Not in the hair!) Our hidden motives. The choice of words. Why certain things are said and done first. Every breath and expression is a clue to the individual beneath the facade. It is rewarding to be a loving, expectant detective.
Robert Louis Stevenson said he had 6 true servants, named Who, What, Where, When, Why and How, to help him write. But, I think the best investigative assistant is WHY. It unlocks the world for kids. And us, too!
So, in my opinion, we are never other people. We borrow thoughts and opinions. We imitate lives, (literally walking in others’ shoes when tiny!) We need quotes to populate our thoughts and react to them. And thus create our own.
So, Wilde the self-publicist (like George Bernard Shaw) was only offering a comment for clever minds. If he said it to any insecure person, he could shock and devastate. (Still, I like the quote.)
Hope you enjoyed your visit to Wales. (But, you were a different person in December, weren’t you? And have moved on since then.) Happy New Year, Katrina, to you and your visitors.
My blog is left aside, at the moment. I want to write a film script in January. Never done it before. So, why not? As the ideas run hot.
In closing, as I see it is 12 minutes to midnight, 31st December 2009, I wish my visitors and friends all the very best in 2010. May your New Year provide a host of Daily Differences! And heartfelt fulfillment.
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