I Think I'm Trying Too Hard, Wish I Didn't Have To Try So Hard, I Wish It Came To Me Like Air, Without A Worry Or A Care
--"New York Minute", Whispertown2000
MS - That doesn't mean I have to wrap it, do I? Because that would be kind of pointless. It would just get messed up in transit and then I would have spent all that energy wrapping your gift for no good reason.
B - Do you ever wrap it? Do you even know how to wrap a gift?
P - Sure, I do. I've wrapped presents before.
B - Well?
P - Well enough.
B - Like my daddy always says, if you're going to fight, don't tie your hand behind your back beforehand. There's no use in doing something good for someone if you do it badly. Especially if that someone is me, darling.
P - It's bad enough I have less than two weeks to find you a gift. I have to worry about how it's presented? I'm telling you it's too much work.
B - It's called being considerate.
P - Being considerate's evil. In fact, I think being considerate is what killed off the dinosaurs.
B - Don't be daft. Being considerate is what keeps people going, it's what keeps people from going crazy. Hmmm, in your case, more crazy.
P - I just don't think I'm very good at it.
B - You're not good at it because you don't try. And you don't try because you think you're above it.
P - I just think it's rather pointless. The whole exchanging of gifts for the most part I believe is rather perplexing.
B - You don't want to get me a gift this year? You don't have to if you don't want to.
P - It's not that. You're like the one person I do like buying stuff for now. It's the whole idea of having to buy people presents on their birthday or Christmas or whatever. I cannot abide feeling obligated to do something for someone. If my heart's not into something, it's not into it.
B - Sometimes you've got to suffer a little foolishness in your time. For me, the way I look at it is this. It might not make me happy at first to go out of my way for someone, but as soon as I see that smile I remember why kindness gets paid in kindness. It's true what they say--you give a little, you get a lot.
P - But that whole theory is predicated on the idea that I'm after people to be kind and considerate to me. What if I'm indifferent about people treating me nicely? Doesn't that mean I don't have to be nice to them?
B - Why wouldn't you want to be nice to someone if you had an option?
P - Because I don't care sometimes.
B - Hell's bells, Eeyore, there's such thing as being apathetic. And you wonder why people get irritated with you so quickly.
P - But isn't exhausting being on your best behavior all the time, B.? Don't you get tired of actingly falsely in front of people?
B - Because I'm one to be somehow facetious to the general population? You should know I really am that damn nice. Or try to be, anyway.
P - All the time?
B - All the time I can be.
P - Without fail?
B - I can't say without fail, but more than most I would say.
P - Sorry, but I'm going to have call bullshit on that one. You've got a definite mean streak and you get just as pissed off at people as I do. I've heard it. I've reviewed the tapes.
B - True. But I think you could say that'd be the exception and not the rule. I'm better at being courteous than not.
P - My point exactly. I think I'm more suited to being "whatever's whatever" than putting forth the effort to say and do things I really don't feel strongly about. You know me, Breanne, you can't say that I don't feel passionately about stuff. I just don't think I should have to attempt to do things I know I suck at.
B - Like wrapping presents?
P - Like minding the p's and q's. Isn't enough I feel strongly about you that I want to get you a gift that would make you happy? Do I really have to dress it up to the nines, only to have you discard all of my efforts in a matter of seconds?
B - In for a penny, in for a pound, Patrick. The way I look at it when I do something nice for a friend or a family member is that I've already spent the money to purchase the perfect gift, I've already spent the effort looking for the perfect gift, what's another ten to fifteen minutes to "dress it up"? What's another trip to the card store to pick out the perfect card? What's another half hour typing out a short letter to explain why I picked out the gift and why it reminds me of you? I don't think about all the hard work or all the effort. I think about how it's going to make you feel that I went to all the effort.
Tell me the truth, sugar. Doesn't it make you feel special when somebody dotes all over you?
P - Yeah, I guess. But a part of me thinks that I'd be fine with the minimum effort as well. Personally, I don't even like having favors, getting gifts, or being paid attention to if it's not asked for. Most of the time when people try to do something nice for you, they end up doing it all wrong. Then I feel bad that I don't like it, but heaven forbid I say I don't like it. Or, even worse, I get practically stoned to death when I try and refuse thanking them for it. If I don't like the gift why in the hell should I thank them for it? I didn't ask you to get me a present and now I've got to be grateful you've stuck me with crap?
B - It's the thought you're showing gratitude for and not the execution.
P - I'm a bigger fan of the execution rather than the thought.
B - See if I get you a gift this year.
P - Not you, of course. You actually take the time to ask me what I want and to find stuff I actually might like. Just like people go through the motions of showing appreciation, I think most people buy gifts just because they feel they should and not because they actually want to find a "good" gift or a "thougtful" present. I'd say that I like only about 10% of the gifts I ever get, if that.
B - That's sad.
P - This I know.
B - I don't know--it comes easy to me to be thoughtful. I guess that's just the way I raised.
P - And I've honed my apathy to a razor's edge.
B - You do what feels comfortable, I guess.
P - And it's not like I'm a bad person, am I?
B - No, I wouldn't say that.
P - We all can't be saints like you.
B - I'm not a saint. I'm still little 'ole me.
P - Sometimes I do wish I wasn't so difficult or that I didn't have so many things I'm fussy about. But I can't help the way I feel.
B - No, you can't. I think everyone can change a little bit, though.
P - Just a tad.
B - Just a jot.
P - Just an iota.
B - Here's something that my mother taught me at an early age. She taught me that as long as I can look myself in the mirror with my head held up high, my conscience clear, and my heart light as a feather, then anything I do cannot be as bad as someone else says it to be. The only two people that can truly judge your actions are you and God. It's all well and good to want to be a better person for company and kin, however, at the end of it all, you have to like yourself most importantly. The question is do you like yourself as you are, Eeyore?
P - Well enough.
B - Yup, then you're in trouble, sugar. I think I'll be wanting that birthday gift as soon as possible.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
MS - That doesn't mean I have to wrap it, do I? Because that would be kind of pointless. It would just get messed up in transit and then I would have spent all that energy wrapping your gift for no good reason.B - Do you ever wrap it? Do you even know how to wrap a gift?
P - Sure, I do. I've wrapped presents before.
B - Well?
P - Well enough.
B - Like my daddy always says, if you're going to fight, don't tie your hand behind your back beforehand. There's no use in doing something good for someone if you do it badly. Especially if that someone is me, darling.
P - It's bad enough I have less than two weeks to find you a gift. I have to worry about how it's presented? I'm telling you it's too much work.
B - It's called being considerate.
P - Being considerate's evil. In fact, I think being considerate is what killed off the dinosaurs.
B - Don't be daft. Being considerate is what keeps people going, it's what keeps people from going crazy. Hmmm, in your case, more crazy.
P - I just don't think I'm very good at it.
B - You're not good at it because you don't try. And you don't try because you think you're above it.
P - I just think it's rather pointless. The whole exchanging of gifts for the most part I believe is rather perplexing.
B - You don't want to get me a gift this year? You don't have to if you don't want to.
P - It's not that. You're like the one person I do like buying stuff for now. It's the whole idea of having to buy people presents on their birthday or Christmas or whatever. I cannot abide feeling obligated to do something for someone. If my heart's not into something, it's not into it.
B - Sometimes you've got to suffer a little foolishness in your time. For me, the way I look at it is this. It might not make me happy at first to go out of my way for someone, but as soon as I see that smile I remember why kindness gets paid in kindness. It's true what they say--you give a little, you get a lot.
P - But that whole theory is predicated on the idea that I'm after people to be kind and considerate to me. What if I'm indifferent about people treating me nicely? Doesn't that mean I don't have to be nice to them?
B - Why wouldn't you want to be nice to someone if you had an option?
P - Because I don't care sometimes.
B - Hell's bells, Eeyore, there's such thing as being apathetic. And you wonder why people get irritated with you so quickly.
P - But isn't exhausting being on your best behavior all the time, B.? Don't you get tired of actingly falsely in front of people?
B - Because I'm one to be somehow facetious to the general population? You should know I really am that damn nice. Or try to be, anyway.
P - All the time?
B - All the time I can be.
P - Without fail?
B - I can't say without fail, but more than most I would say.
P - Sorry, but I'm going to have call bullshit on that one. You've got a definite mean streak and you get just as pissed off at people as I do. I've heard it. I've reviewed the tapes.
B - True. But I think you could say that'd be the exception and not the rule. I'm better at being courteous than not.
P - My point exactly. I think I'm more suited to being "whatever's whatever" than putting forth the effort to say and do things I really don't feel strongly about. You know me, Breanne, you can't say that I don't feel passionately about stuff. I just don't think I should have to attempt to do things I know I suck at.
B - Like wrapping presents?
P - Like minding the p's and q's. Isn't enough I feel strongly about you that I want to get you a gift that would make you happy? Do I really have to dress it up to the nines, only to have you discard all of my efforts in a matter of seconds?
B - In for a penny, in for a pound, Patrick. The way I look at it when I do something nice for a friend or a family member is that I've already spent the money to purchase the perfect gift, I've already spent the effort looking for the perfect gift, what's another ten to fifteen minutes to "dress it up"? What's another trip to the card store to pick out the perfect card? What's another half hour typing out a short letter to explain why I picked out the gift and why it reminds me of you? I don't think about all the hard work or all the effort. I think about how it's going to make you feel that I went to all the effort.
Tell me the truth, sugar. Doesn't it make you feel special when somebody dotes all over you?
P - Yeah, I guess. But a part of me thinks that I'd be fine with the minimum effort as well. Personally, I don't even like having favors, getting gifts, or being paid attention to if it's not asked for. Most of the time when people try to do something nice for you, they end up doing it all wrong. Then I feel bad that I don't like it, but heaven forbid I say I don't like it. Or, even worse, I get practically stoned to death when I try and refuse thanking them for it. If I don't like the gift why in the hell should I thank them for it? I didn't ask you to get me a present and now I've got to be grateful you've stuck me with crap?
B - It's the thought you're showing gratitude for and not the execution.
P - I'm a bigger fan of the execution rather than the thought.
B - See if I get you a gift this year.
P - Not you, of course. You actually take the time to ask me what I want and to find stuff I actually might like. Just like people go through the motions of showing appreciation, I think most people buy gifts just because they feel they should and not because they actually want to find a "good" gift or a "thougtful" present. I'd say that I like only about 10% of the gifts I ever get, if that.
B - That's sad.
P - This I know.
B - I don't know--it comes easy to me to be thoughtful. I guess that's just the way I raised.
P - And I've honed my apathy to a razor's edge.
B - You do what feels comfortable, I guess.
P - And it's not like I'm a bad person, am I?
B - No, I wouldn't say that.
P - We all can't be saints like you.
B - I'm not a saint. I'm still little 'ole me.
P - Sometimes I do wish I wasn't so difficult or that I didn't have so many things I'm fussy about. But I can't help the way I feel.
B - No, you can't. I think everyone can change a little bit, though.
P - Just a tad.
B - Just a jot.
P - Just an iota.
B - Here's something that my mother taught me at an early age. She taught me that as long as I can look myself in the mirror with my head held up high, my conscience clear, and my heart light as a feather, then anything I do cannot be as bad as someone else says it to be. The only two people that can truly judge your actions are you and God. It's all well and good to want to be a better person for company and kin, however, at the end of it all, you have to like yourself most importantly. The question is do you like yourself as you are, Eeyore?
P - Well enough.
B - Yup, then you're in trouble, sugar. I think I'll be wanting that birthday gift as soon as possible.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
posted by mojo shivers @ 12:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home