who am I? or maybe what am I?
It is impossible to briefly describe one's character and create some mental picture of one's personality. I picked two stories from my past that I think are a pretty good example of how I think and what kind of weird person I'm.
Many years ago (I told you it was going to be a "story") my friend from school moved to the same country I was living in. After a few months, he needed a new visa to extend his stay and asked me to sign his documents. I read them briefly before signing (I guess movies taught me to do that) and noticed that one of the key points I was signing is that I have known him for at least 5 years. I signed everything. Then he handed me his wife documents whom I just met when they moved. I was a bit confused and refused to sign the documents as clearly I haven't known her that long and I wasn't going to sign something that is not true. He got mighty upset about it and took it personally. My family was upset about it. Our friends were upset about it. He asked some other people whom he recently met and they signed it for him without second thoughts. Why is this story important to me? Because I cannot lie. Everyone told me that his wife is a nice person, and they were right I liked her. Everyone told me that it doesn't matter and no one is going to check if I have actually known her for that long. The thing is that all that doesn't matter to me. It was a lie and I cannot be convinced otherwise. My internal morals are too solid to get swayed. When I think about it it is like 3 robotic laws in Issac Asimov books. I have this "you cannot tell lies" law build-in and I can only go around it by not saying something.
The second story is similar but I think depicts the way operate from another perspective. Again, many years ago, probably more than a decade ago there was a family staying with us, temporarily, not having any other accommodation available. Our house is a bit small so they were sleeping in the kitchen and living room. I had no problem with them staying with us as long as they needed. It was kind of fun to have more people around for a change. The queue to the toilet in the morning was new :-). Anyway, they stayed longer than they were planning. Eventually, they found accommodation they liked and were given keys to the property on Friday. They told us they wanted to pack/clean on Saturday and move out on Sunday. No problem. Well, no problem for me. My partner was fuming that they were going to stretch their stay even longer. At some point, she threatened to divorce me if I let them stay till Sunday. I was told I had no guts and allowed people to walk over me and use me. I had two very conflicting thoughts in my head. My internal morals were telling me to let them stay. But my partner who was important to me was expecting something else from me. This is the first and probably the only time I decided to act against my own will. This was one of the hardest decisions I had to make in my life (and not because my life is super easy but because my morals are stupidity strong). I went to them and asked them to move out earlier. They didn't take it well but moved out and I kept my marriage. Obviously, they complained to their friends who happen to be my friends too. I overheard the story told on some parties about me kicking them out of the house. I did kick them out so I never corrected the story and let it go. They don't talk to me any more. A decade later I still feel bad for overriding my internal rules and acting according to someone else's will. Am I a robot?
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