Ahha!

Tribute

Failure of Empathy

Read "Cat in the Rain" by Ernest Hemingway and "Tricks" by Thomas Cooper. I enjoyed them both: I liked the hotel keeper in Cat, and I enjoyed [what I believed to be] the happy ending in Tricks.

As far as discussion went, there was a lot of focus on the woman from Cat and the girl in Tricks, both of which I thought was undue. Neither relationship issues nor mental handicaps are the focus of the respective poems. Instead, both are focused on the failure of empathy, and how detrimental it can be to relationships both romantic and familial.

An acquaintance I know asked me a while ago what I thought of people with no empathy: How do you react to them? Can you even begin to comprehend them? What are your thoughts on them?

Usually, I can see where they're coming from, but I don't really accept their mindset. Complete objectivity is almost inhumane. I can't stand it.

Personally, I've struggled communicating the basis of my choices or decisions to others. I place great emphasis on emotion in my decision-making, and often I know a choice I'm going to make far before I can justify it. I trust my gut feelings. Unfortunately, intuition is poor justification for a decision, and I have to scramble to back up my decisions with logic-based reasoning in group environments.

I have yet to decide whether intuition-oriented thinking is a boon or an inhibition.

[Repost from Tumblr]

Relocation!

The blog has been moved to:

http://mandatoryliposuction.tumblr.com

I might move it back in the future, but for now I will be using tumblr.

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."

-Voltaire

"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
~R.W. Emerson