Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

More lessons from reading

In a book I am reading, the writer observes the people around her and finds that most people believe those who are rigid in their belief systems to be strong. She says, “Inflexibility is not strength.”

It occurred to me, since people mix certain attributes with the wrong ones, why shouldn’t the characters we create do the same?

What other attributes are mixed with the wrong ones?
So I started a list (still unfinished):

• Inflexibility is not strength.
• Self-interest (hidden or not) is neither generosity nor altruism.
• Being truthful does not mean hurting another’s feelings.
• Good management is not heartlessness.
• Justice is neither revenge nor malice.
• Tolerance is not the same as acceptance.
• Happiness is not the same as pleasure.
• Courage is not the same as rashness.
• Hope is not the same as anticipation.
• Being realistic is not the same as being a pessimist.
• Appreciation of some does not mean putting down or neglecting others.
• Just punishment is not public humiliation.
• Smartness does not mean fraud.
• Innocence is not walking in a fog.
• Offering someone food is not the same as shoving the food inside his mouth by force.
• A rumor is not a fact.
• Logic is not a complete lack of emotion.



More to come…