Perception

Someone once said something very true: we live in a world of Perception, not Reality. Although I was first impressed by this insight long ago, recently the truth of it has been hammered home pretty hard.

This blog has certainly been proving the point, and don't get me wrong, the irony of what I'm about to cite regarding blog feedback is not upsetting: on the contrary, it fits well with my new worldview, which I will relate at the end here.

I guess it's pretty clear what set me off and got me going on writing a blog is my increasingly unpleasant experiences with the local gendarmes and their objections to my driving behavior; but especially bothering are the new trends in Federal participation in local traffic enforcement. Blogging about it gave me the perception that I would be seen as valiantly fighting back against Big Brother, etc, etc. The reaction from my niece Louise, though, gave me some pause. "Man, Uncle Carl, you sure get stopped for speeding a lot." Hmmmmm. Maybe the reality of how this blog is being received is different than my perception here! Who else thought that I clearly was someone just getting too many tickets... or that it was a little nutty to do such a rant about it?

When I sent out the URL that helps balance your checkbook; that wasn't a blog, and I wasn't sure everyone would find it useful. But I allowed myself to think some would use it, or pass it along. The one response I got [you know who you are!] joked about balancing checkbooks: "do people still do that?" I got a chuckle out of it. But that also gave me some pause: probably a lot of people thought that was a silly thing to send out. God help me, I use the hell out of that thing.

Here's something more in the category of "hammered home hard."
.... Anymore I do not assume that other people see me the way I see myself. Realizing this when younger would have been very helpful at work, in relationships, for life in general. I'd say that's the positive thing I'm taking away from that whole fiasco.

Keep it coming on the blog feedback. Fear not, I am receptive these days to wake-up calls on Reality. I thank you in advance.