More Hypocrisy And False Statements

We have all heard the exclamation, “I don’t care what anybody else thinks”.  I’d ask how many of the people who have said this are actually being honest about it?  I would say, none.  I’ve endlessly seen people squeal with joy when they are being congratulated, patted on the back, “Atta boy’ed”, fawned over, and otherwise rewarded for one thing or another – whether the thing they did was real or not.  Yes, we’ve all seen the false humility, and we’ve seen gloating, but that aside…       It’s only when they receive less than flattering remarks or observations that they indignantly exclaim, “I don’t care what other people think!!!”.  A person who is honest would be totally indifferent to both complimentary, and unflattering statements from people – but well, in my lifetime, I have yet to meet a person who is indifferent to compliments – or to insults, for that matter.  We can show the person making the compliment that we appreciate the kind word, but that’s a separate issue from feeling some kind of wonderful as a result.  These same people, behind their thinly veiled indignant exclamations, will always be offended, and it will be obvious.  Once again, if a person’s words are different from what he does, I will go by what he does, every time – and without fail.

I’ve seen the human ego cause people to commit many horrendous and despicable atrocities – including but not limited to, controlling another person, child molestation, rape, greed, and even murder.  About ten years ago, a friend of mine said, “If you think anybody is going to fight you straight up, then you’re naïve”.  Playing dirty is something that has never entered my mind, but, I have yet to find, in a confrontational situation, a single person who took me on in a fair and honest way – they have always, without fail, done something sneaky and cowardly in order to “win”.  From what I’ve seen, there are very few people in the world who have any real sense of fair play, who have real character, or who have any degree of integrity.  As I’ve said many times, I don’t claim to be perfect, but there are lines I will not cross – being dishonest, playing dirty, being sneaky, and being cowardly are at the top of that list.  I’m pretty sure I’ve never cookied the deadly phrase I’m speaking of, mostly because I know that I do care to some degree what other people think.  As for my caring or not caring about what other people think – I guess by nature I never did care much about what other people thought, but I do care about it to some small degree – in both directions.  I do get some amount of good feelings when somebody appreciates my efforts, hard work, or abilities, and I am somewhat offended when a person purposely insults me.  On insults, though, it’s never the content of the insult that gets to me, it’s only the fact that this person is taunting me, provoking me, trying to push me into displaying some kind of less than pleasant reaction.  I know all the reasons why small people insult other people, I know they are not happy, I know they are sending the message that they know they are worthless, but even with that, it’s one area where I haven’t gotten to the point where I am where I’d like to be.  When I can feel total indifference to both compliments and insults – no matter what part of the insult, then I will be able to say with total honesty, “I don’t care what other people think”.