Monday, November 29, 2010

333. To thine own self be true


Standing apart from the heaving masses had often fallen to Athol. He failed to see how the majority of people made the decisions they did, took the actions they did, lived the lives they did. It was not simply in the big issues like religion and politics, but in all those more simple issues round which day to day living revolved. It took Athol years to realise that the majority of people in society based their decisions upon self-interest. However, Athol marched by the beat of a different drum.

And it gave him great grief. Athol was a thinker in preference to a talker.

The power of persuasion was not visited upon him. He knew he did not have a sparkling personality that swayed others to his way of thinking. That was of little interest to him, anyway. He was neither a leader nor a follower. Athol was an individual.

3 comments:

Joan Elizabeth said...

I like the way your stories make me think about what I think. Do people really make many decisions I wonder ... so much of life is run on autopilot ... choose the framework then let it run.

Julie said...

I am not convinced that people choose a framework. I think their 'framework' is simply an accumulation of individual decisions that bear little relation to each other.

I like how the images I choose make me think of what it is that I think. Then I have to find a way to express that attitude.

Has been a useful year of writing this blog.

Joan Elizabeth said...

Here's what mean by framework ... I choose a particular job in a certain location that sets a frame which excludes many choices and forces on many e.g commuting. Hence many choices go into autopilot.

I choose a moral/religious stance ... that again excludes certain things and causes certain choices e.g. going to church to happen almost on autopilot.