mjm wired

Several years ago I was in the basement watching my two cousins playing during some family function. It was just the three of us, most likely during some sort of summer party. Well, both of my young cousins were pretty mischievous and they decided to play on this old spinning couch/lounge chair. They started spinning faster and faster, until one of them flew straight off and hit the basement floor, luckily it was carpeted. I just stood by and did nothing till it happened. After making sure he wasn't hurt, I couldn't stop laughing. The image of my "launched" cousin is glued in my mind and still cracks me up. Of course I had to share, I told my siblings about it some time afterwards.

The best part of the story came several years later, when my youngest brother decides to narrate the story with him in my spot. How that's possible I don't know, but he was convinced he was the one who was there, not me. I think I straightened him out. I guess I could excuse it to something childish.

The interesting thing I see more frequently among a more professional environment is when people take other people's ideas. I want to say its unintentional, but I'm not sure. They either lack the precision in their memory or they simply recall their thoughts in their own voice making it effectively their own. I often don't correct this when I see it, lest I look like an attention-seeker or ego-deflater. Either way its one of the most annoying things.

In a "geeky" way I have pretty detailed recollection when it comes to past events and conversations. And I do accept that the people can unwittingly confuse their own memories, but it can be pretty funny to tell someone that they said something shocking or hilarious that they can't remember. It can be powerful to contradict someone with their own words. I guess, however, I should be careful, I don't want to abuse my powers.

This weekend I watch The Pianist, a very well done movie in almost every respect. It clearly deserved all the Oscar attention it received. As much as I enjoyed the movie, at times it was very hard to watch its sad depictions and depressing scenes. The German occupation of Warsaw is shown in grim detail through the eyes of a Jewish pianist. As a survivor his very real story was eventually told. The thing that affected me about this movie was that it reminded me of the capabilities of man. Humanity and its meaning at times can be so easily overlooked. I'm not sure what my point is, I guess it bothers me that even to this day worse things happen. I question what mankind has learned from centuries of violence. People can live in their own happy self centered worlds, while easily filtering out the hardships endured by the rest of the people on this planet. Maybe they don't know any better. Maybe no one does. Of course believing that would only be an excuse. There are no excuses, we all should know better.