Monday, February 2, 2009

A Million Little Pieces

Dear blog,

There's this plague going around Facebook where everyone is telling 25 deep, dark secrets about themselves and then tagging 25 of their closest friends to do the same. When I saw the first persons list I knew it was only a matter of time before I got tagged. I got to thinking about what I would want to put on my list of 25 things that people don't know about me but are innocent enough for me to put up there? Because you don't really want to put the things that people don't know about you up there, or else, they would already know them. Or is that flawed logic? I read others' list to see a sample of what they were writing and a lot of them went a little something like this;

"I love my friends more than they know, I hope they love me back"
"I have the best boyfriend/husband/girlfriend/wife in the world!"
"I love Disney movies!"
Who freaking cares??
Many lists held trivial facts and other generally banal things that didn't really hold my attention.

There were a couple of lists that I did enjoy reading and you could tell the writer put some thought in their lists, one was a high school chum and how they came out to their family and the other was a friend who said it is possible to be single and happy. (I loved that one!!)

Really, what this proved to me was how much people are just craving to talk about themselves. People are putting their heart on their proverbial sleeve and telling such secrets as "I like the crust cut off of my pb&j". Maybe to curb the insatiable need for people to write lists about themselves, we need to actually start listening. Just think about it. You go to work and something SO funny just happened on your way to work, say the carhop at Sonic asked you if wanted salt and ketchup with your Diet Coke, and you can't wait to tell your coworkers about it and get a good laugh. Nine times out of ten, before you can get to the punchline the person on the receiving end of your story is already thinking of a story that will be funnier than yours. It's a little game I like to call topper. Who can top the other with a more outrageous story? The next time you feel the need to talk about yourself when someone is talking to you, just bite your tongue and acknowledge the other person. You'll be surprised at what you might learn.

That's all for tonight folks.
xoxo,
Alison

8 comments:

Julie said...

Crap. I feel so bad. I always thought the "topper" game was called "let's relate."

Drew said...

Hey was that me?!

I agree, some people's were super boring. I skimmed the first couple of items on each person's and only read the ones that were really funny.

Anonymous said...

Holla.
That ketchup would have been AWESOME in my DC.

Anonymous said...

I'm hearin ya :-)

BellaFrench said...

Julie-I think you might have misunderstood what I was writing.

Drew-that was definitely your post I was referring to!! I love the fact that you're single and happy, a true testament to single girls everywhere!

Connor Family Blog said...

Matey, I agree with your post as well. I didn't read many...only people who seemed like they would put a lot of thought into it. My excuse for not doing it was...hmm, aren't there a million better things to spend your time doing? Like calling friends or spending time with family? :) Love to my mate!

Anonymous said...

I'm getting a scooter this weekend :-)

Anonymous said...

Roomie! I totally would agree with what you were saying, but I stopped listening cuz I was thinking about whether or not it was gonna rain tomorrow and whether or not I'd be wearing suede boots or throwback kicks... Love you though! Mean It!