I am reading An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. The book is about a boy named Colin who was a child prodigy and is slightly socially awkward. He goes on a road trip with his friend Hassan and they end up in a small town called Gutshot where they meet Lindsey. Lindsey is popular in her small town but isn’t an airhead. She is also a social chameleon. She fits into whatever situation she is put into. When Lindsey and Colin are sitting and talking, Colin asks Lindsey “Do you every wonder whether people would like you more or less if they could see inside you?” Colin thinks they would like him less, or at least the Katherines (Colin only dates girls named Katherine, hence the book title) would like him less because they always seem to dump him when they get to know him. Lindsey thinks that people would hate her because they would see through the façade she puts up in different situations to the real her.
I think the whole idea of people seeing you on the inside is really interesting. I think that there would be less animosity and hate in the world if we could see inside each other. We would be forced to see the humanity in everyone. That being said, I don’t think I would want people to see inside my head. I think that my head is my place. Lindsey isn’t just a social chameleon because she wants to fit in. I think she puts on different aspects of herself for different people so that no one can get to close to her and that private place in your head stays that way. Colin seams pretty upfront. Even so, he hides certain things. He hides his failures and how emotionally tormenting they are for him because that is one part of him he doesn’t want people to see. I think everyone has at least one of those.
To answer Colin’s question in the beginning, I don’t know if people would like me more if they saw me on the inside. Part of me says no and the other says yes. It is hard to tell. Even if showing me on the inside would make everyone love me, I don’t think I would do it. I don’t want to entrust that much of myself to anyone. So, do you every wonder whether people would like you more or less if they could see inside you? Would you let them if you could?
i think that people wouldn't really care if they saw inside of me, although i act slightly differently around certain people i always am clearly the same person. what im saying is that i dont block myself from others the way lindsey does and people know who i am.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely not! We have the opportunity to censor the things we say, to put words in eloquent, or cautious phrases. With our thoughts, you cannot. You can not make a thought politically correct, you cannot control thoughts. When someone says "Think of an elephant" you have to think of an elephant. You can't help it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, nice post and good thinking.
I agree with Dante, but then sometimes we are hiding the most important seacrets in side of us. In some cases, releasing them would be good for our rep, but some could really hurt us. There is a reason we hold things inside... Thats just what your post made me think about
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