Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Who’s the most difficult person you’ve known in your life, and what would you like to tell him or her?
It’s interesting – as I was pondering my answer for this question, it really started to come down to a series of friends and acquaintances in my life who I felt got on my nerves, or with whom I constantly felt like I was arguing or struggling. Honestly, though, that probably reveals that *I* am difficult, not particularly them, and so I don’t feel comfortable singling out any individual and calling them the most difficult.
On the other hand, I did want to relay a little thing that’s stuck with me over the years. I read somewhere (or maybe heard on the radio?) that there’s a fine line between genius and evil genius. So, if you are worried about your above-average intelligence child growing up on the maladjusted side of things, the story claimed that ten positive physical interactions (shoulder pat, hug, etc.) a day would be an excellent preventative and way to keep the young “genius” grounded.
Ever since then, I have imagined what it would be like to have a Hugging Day, where I just literally hug every person I interact with that day. Other than the inevitable harassment problems, I think it would be an interesting social experiment to gauge difference in reaction *after* the hug. (I imagine there would also be variety of reaction *to* the hug, but I’m less concerned about that.) I think it’s very hard to be negative towards a person who is making physical contact (in a nonthreatening way).
