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I share all my sporadic and toilet thoughts in here, because I am random like that.

Jun
14 2010

Grey areas in perception

So, apparently I’ve been taking waaay too much chocolate during the last few days in Vancouver – no thanks to my aunt’s seemingly endless chocolate supply and not to mention how chocolate is really, really cheap here.

It was during two of these chocolate-gobbling sessions where I noticed that there are many ways I can perceive situations, especially concerning other people’s intentions.

Scenario 1
En route to Whistler Mountains with the rest of the family in a rented jeep, my aunt was passing chocolate supplies around as she normally would during a long road trip.

I received a packet of Maltesers (mmm, one of my favourites). In front of me, the younger cousin had just received a bar of Lindt 70% dark chocolate.

A coupla’ seconds later, the younger cousin turned around and offered to trade his chocolate with me.

“Brenda, you want?” he asked, holding out the Lindt bar. “I know that you love dark chocolate!”

I was really, really touched at first – because he remembered that I love dark chocolate more than any other types. (And men in general are really good at forgetting these things.) So I accepted the Lindt bar and began chomping gleefully.

Nomming my chocolate bar and gazing out at the scenery outside, it suddenly struck me that I had conveniently overlooked one fact – that the younger cousin hated dark chocolate, but also loved Maltesers … quite possibly more than I do.

So, there are two ways of looking at this.

A. The younger cousin offered his dark chocolate to me because he knows that I love dark chocolate and that I would definitely enjoy it more than he would.

B. He offered to trade his dark chocolate only because he himself hated it, and wanted Maltesers instead.

Mmm, something to think about.

Scenario 2
A continuation of Scenario 1. So, I’ve finished gobbling up the last bit of the Lindt bar just as the jeep pulled into the petrol station for a gas top-up.

As the younger cousin hopped off the jeep to the convenience store at the gas station for a top-up of munchies, I requested that he help me get another Lindt bar. Ten minutes later, he returned and passed me an extra-large bar of Lindt 70% dark chocolate, two times the size of the standard bar I was munching on before.

So I expressed shock, because I definitely couldn’t finish all of it. “It’s okay, eat it slowly,” was his reply.

Again, there are two ways of looking at it.

A. He bought the extra-large chocolate bar because he knows I love dark chocolate (as in, seriously!) and so, decided to get me a supply that can last me a couple of days at least.

B. He bought the extra-large chocolate bar because it was much cheaper to buy in bulk (or larger sizes), rather than a single, standard-size Lindt bar. So he saves money that way, just in case I end up asking him for even more Lindt bars.

If the above scenarios happened to you, which one would you choose?

For me, I chose option A for both – because despite how the younger cousin has his share of annoying (and occasionally, selfish – but who doesn’t?) moments, I know he really, really, really cares for me a lot and would basically go out of his way to make me happy.

If he is in the mood to, at least. Heh.

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4 Comments

  • 15 Jun 2010
    2:06 AM

    Nadine

    isn’t it all about seeing the positive side of things and not the negative?

    perhaps really cynical people do that.
    which is kinda sad, when you think about it.

    it used to bother me about people being like that.
    then I realized I’ll just choose to see the good side and
    not worry over the other (:

    • 15 Jun 2010
      1:03 PM

      brendalogy

      Haha, actually not quite. It’s something more specific – about perceiving whether other people are behaving selflessly, or just looking at their own interests!

      It’s good to keep a balance of both, actually – and to agree with Annie, it also depends on the other person (i.e. your past communication history with him/her)! (;

  • 15 Jun 2010
    3:45 AM

    Annie

    I’d also choose A in both scenarios.

    Actually it would depend on who the person in question was but I think I’d choose A anyway, just because it’s the brighter side between the options. ;)

  • 19 Jun 2010
    10:30 PM

    Maria Celina

    I guess logically, both A and B contain win-win situations, but the good thing about choosing A for both of them is that the win-win situation has more meaning. That’s one of the beauties of optimism! =)

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