Sunday, July 16, 2006

Add salt to taste!

I have what some people may call a problem. Whenever I meet new people, I tend to place them on a pedestal and assume that they are in some way or the other, superior to me. Don't mistake this for an inferiority complex. What I mean is that, I generally give the other person the benefit of the doubt. I do not like to tie down my impression of the other person with any preconceived notions. And due to this, I generally tend to take their word on whatever they have to say about themselves. This has worked great for me, maybe because this makes me, you know.... more approachable.

Take for example, the following incident. A new neighbour moved in upstairs just a coupla weeks back. I met the guy one day while taking a walk outside my house. I introduced myself as a student from Singapore and went on to ask him what he does. His answer kinda surprised me. He said 'I make satellites for NASA'. And I was instantly full of awe for this guy! We went on to talk about some other stuff after which I headed back home.
A few days later, I was sitting at my desk at home, and my room mate Dev came inside laughing his ass off! I asked him what happened. Here's the conversation that followed:

Dev: "You should listen to that guy upstairs! Hilarious! He claims that he makes satellites... for NASA!!! Hahaha!"
Me: "So? What's wrong with that?!"
Dev: "OMG! You actually believe that guy?! For God's sakes, he is living in a 900$ apartment! And rides a bike to work! You think he'd be livin here if he was a satellite engineer?!"
Me: "hmmm.. yea! thats funny!"
Dev: "Listen to what happened next... I asked him what degree he had done... haha... and he was like 'i haven't really done college yet... but i'm planning to pretty soon'!! hahaha"

And then it struck me. I was just too gullible. I've been believing shit like this from random people for years now. And suddenly, I started recalling all the previous incidents where I probably ended up believing more than I should have...

OMG! Maybe I needed an attitude change. I've really got to take other people's words with a pinch of salt from now onwards! I've got to put a little extra thought before swallowing all the junk that I hear around me!

Hmmm.. interesting lil lesson learnt :)

psycho.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, if you met Steve Jobs in the early 1980's and he told you 'I'm a millionaire, but I haven't gone to college' would you believe him?

Just because a guy stays in a crummy apartment and hasn't gone to college, does it mean that he can't be an engineer at NASA?

You're in the USA for God's sake!

But still, always better to be cynical than gullible ;)

sirpsycho said...

Hmm yea that's true. But then again, a software developer/entrepreneur is very different from a satellite engineer. I mean, being a satellite engineer has some tough requirements which I guess you could possibly only pick up at engineering school. And besides, when he initially claimed to build satellites for NASA, I assumed that he actually designs and develops them. But now that I know he isn't an engineer, he probably is a technician who actually physically builds them. What he said wasn't wrong. It was just what I had assume. However, he made it sound as if he's an uber cool hi-fi rocket scientist, which really isn't the case. On the other hand, if he was indeed an engineer there, he would probably have given a more low-flying introduction.
Btw, who is this? Do i know you?