Friday, February 20, 2009

Why We're the Way We Are...


(Drum roll please.) Uh-hum...Attention, please! Attention everyone...


Finally, the age-old question has been answered. Why each of us is the way we are. And the answer is... (Enough with the drum already!)


I'm only going to write this once, so pay close attention.


Ready?


How about now?


Now?


I don't know. (Hey, I didn't say it would be a good or correct answer!)

The point to having you read this? Taking your valuable time? It's hard for me to say those three words "I don't know." I think I have to have the answer you need and/or want to hear.

And even more difficult to say? That one-word complete sentence, "No."

Okay, so I don't know why I'm the way I am. Why we are the way we are. But I do know this, I'm working on those parts of who I am that I'm not so crazy about and learning to embrace the aspects of me that, well, make me quirky enough to write a post like this.

At the end of the day, does it matter why, or how we're the way we are?

6 comments:

Mary Cunningham said...

Saying you "don't know" when you really don't is never wrong!

huh?


http://www.cynthiasattic.blogspot.com

Diana Black said...

Uh, "I don't know" what you're talking about!

There. I said it...

Gayle Carline said...

When I was 3 years old, I took my blue crayon and drew one small, well-chosen letter of the alphabet on the wall in each room of my grandmother's house. As my mother was grasping my stick-arm and shaking me, asking me why-why-why, all I could say was, "I don't know."

In hindsight, my answer was insufficient.

My answer now to anything I did without a clear goal is, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Now, as to whether it matters if I know why or how I am the way I am, it only matters in two ways:
1. When I'm writing characters, I need to know why they behave the way they do. Sometimes I use myself as a character study.
2. When I've reached my limit with my teenager's slovenliness and my head is about to rotate like that kid in The Exorcist, it helps to explain to him why his clutter makes me homicidal. Simply talking about it calms me down.

So, other than saving my son's life and creating 3D characters, knowing why I am the way I am doesn't matter at all. LOL!

Gayle Carline (aka GeeCarl)
http://www.gaylecarline.com
http://gaylecarline.blogspot.com

Diana Black said...

GeeCarl (love that!) --

Sounds like you're as much a "character" as I probably am, which I KNOW provides you with lots of wonderful fodder for you fiction.

On your second point, trust me, the fact my daughter and I are best friends after her teenage years is one of life's great mysteries.

Okay, I have to know. What letter of the alphabet adorned your grandmother's walls?

Diana

Gayle Carline said...

I had a different letter for each wall. "a" for the dining room, "w" for the front bedroom, "d" for the back bedroom... It all made perfect sense - at the time.

GeeCarl

Diana Black said...

Ah! Even then you didn't settle for merely seeing the writing on the wall. You created it!

Bravo! (Of course, had I been the one to have to clean those walls, might not be so cavalier about it, right?!)

Diana