Reinterpreting the Data

OK, a few things….

First, could someone do me a solid and invent an app? This is what I need: Something I can download to my #2 Ticonderoga pencil so that when I write something on my 1975-era legal pad, it will transmit directly to my laptop. Why has no one done this yet? Seems like it should be a breeze. Let me know when you’ve got something.

Second, I discovered the origin of my negative association with Gilbert Gottfried…the one I knew I had but couldn’t locate in my extraordinarily cluttered brain. Here it is: he made a joke at the Friar’s Club Roast for Hugh Hefner that may have been poorly timed in the aftermath of September 11. So, I guess in the slow news days that followed that event (wha????) everyone needed to take time out to express their moral outrage at someone who was trying to inject some dopamine – which science says actually makes us happier and more successful – into our collective brain. I seem to recall, however, that we were specifically instructed to keep living our lives because to do otherwise would be “letting the terrorists win”. So, what part of a comedian known for telling tasteless jokes (at an event in which the whole point is to tell tasteless jokes) actually telling a tasteless joke is contrary to that instruction? Beyond that, what could piss a terrorist off more than seeing us laugh in the wake if such a horrific tragedy?

Osama Bin Ladin: They’re supposed to be wailing and gnashing their teeth and tromping on their constitution and they are LAUGHING?! Allahdammit! What do we have to do to make them abandon their principles and adopt ours?

Trusted advisor: Hey now, Osama, not all is lost. I mean, they ARE honoring a guy who treats women like property -- so that’s something. And I think we should give it some time on that whole tromping on their constitution thing…they just need to get their warrantless wiretaps in order. Patience, my friend.

I mean if we’re going to go ahead with plans to celebrate A PORNOGRAPHER (Oh, I forgot…you just read it for the articles) in the days following an event that claimed the lives of 3000+ Americans and turned the entire world on its ear, can’t Gilbert keep being Gilbert?  I guess moral outrage should certainly be reserved for a poorly-timed joke but not for the guy who has been objectifying women and using/discarding them like cellphones for the last 50 years. That’s definitely keeping our eye on the ball, people.

But you may feel differently. Whatevs.

Oh…and AFLAC fired him as their duck voice/spokesperson after he made, yet again, an untimely joke following the tsunami in Japan. And AFLAC has a huge presence in Japan. And…it’s just business.

But I didn’t come here to discuss that.

What I really want to discuss…or ponder…is this issue I have with not giving people a chance. In the past 4 months, I have reluctantly explored the ideas of some people whom I’d previously written off for one reason or another. With Brené Brown it was because someone I had given a chance and did not appreciate expressed his or her admiration for Brené and I just couldn’t imagine that she would have anything to offer me. Wrong. With Gilbert, it was just a fuzzy memory that I was not supposed to like him for some reason...couldn’t remember why…but it must be bad…which turned out to be a silly reason in my estimation. Wrong again. With Tony Robbins, it was simply the idea that he sells his books and ideas on infomercials and anyone who does that is a hack so... NO SOUP FOR YOU, Tony Robbins. But you know what? He’s a pretty smart guy…and a generous one too…and most definitely not a hack. I can’t afford him face-to-face (practically no one can), but his books are pretty good. He says things that speak to me and I wouldn’t ever have known if I hadn’t fallen asleep at the end of one podcast episode and woken up in the middle of the one featuring him. Wrong AGAIN. And now this Donny Deutsch guy who reminds me juuuuuust a little bit too much of Donald Trump…he’s got to be a loser right? Wrong. Yet. Again. He’s pretty smart too…a good mix of confidence and self-awareness…pretty funny and appreciative of high-quality people. And once again, he has things worth hearing…worth it for me, I mean.

Maybe it’s the dopamine opening up my learning center and looking at the world differently so I can squeeze all the good out?

I wonder how many strikes I get in this game. I hope it’s more than 4 because I’ve got to believe that if I can name 4 kind-of-famous people off the top of my head, there are probably at least a handful more. And what about the people that I actually know whom I’ve written off for equally silly reasons -- the sticker on their car…the quality of their voice…the timing of a question while I happened to be busy...a Facebook post -- what am I missing by not giving them a fighting chance?

I need to pay closer attention to these aversions and continue to test their validity. Maybe everyone is doing the best that they can.

Maybe.