Sunday, July 17, 2005

Things not to get too good at...

I read or heard somewhere that being too good at crying or smiling was a bad thing. I think it was mentioned in A Game of Thrones but I'm not sure. Anyhow, it's simple enough to understand what he means: if smiling/crying becomes like acting, then it's those acts are no longer sincere, right? Smiling and acting are emotions that over expressed (emoted!) overtly.

Humility and courtesy are not emotion so much as expressions of philosphy but can be similarly analysed. When humility and courtesy become more like learned behaviors, habituated rather than rationalized, they lose their sincerity. Anyway, the lesson of the day is to think and act rationally! That is, unless you've seen the Fantastic Four movie.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I got so good at smiling to random people at CC that I think ... I don't even know I'm doing it when I do it now ...

Will said...

You know, I'm not entirely sure I really knew what I was talking about, but smiling (like laughing) at least makes people on the receiving end happy so in that light. There are also so many different kinds of smiles... Anyhow, it's better to smile more than not at all : ) <- a smile.

Will said...

Um.. playing devils advocate as usual (not that you would know), never crying isn't a great thing either.

Jessica Alba complains that Mr. Fantastic is too rational and doesn't use his heart.

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