Jul 05 2009
speak your mind – literally!
Imagine if you could not control yourself such that your every thought would be spoken out loud. Imagine that! It would be a very scary world and chances are you’d have no friends because they would hear the good and bad things you think about them! And the thing is – most of the time, the thoughts that are not expressed out loud are the bad thoughts.
A recent episode of House, one of my favourite TV shows, showcased a chap with this illness. He could not prevent himself from speaking every thought that came to mind. As a result, he alienated his wife and family, even though they knew he had this illness, it was still hard to bear.
But it got me thinking…what if our lives were like that. What kind of lives would we lead? Would we try to become better people? Would we try to think only good thoughts? It’s a crazy premise and of course, not possible.
Chances are, if I had the illness, I would just hide from the world. And if we all had the illness, then it would no longer become an illness. Being so frank and honest with each other would become the norm. But boy oh boy, what a world that would be. Imagine being told that what you are wearing looks horrid or that someone thinks you are really stupid or that you are boring…
So what is the reason for this blog entry today…to be honest, I don’t have a “moral of the story” ending. I just thought it was interesting because it shows how much of our daily lives are built on “being nice”.
But here is an interesting experiment of sorts…
The next time you think a “bad” thought of someone, imagine saying it out loud and think of the consequences that would follow. And also trying putting yourself in the shoes of the person being “criticised” and see how you feel. Not so great eh?
Well, it’s reminded me to think twice about my thoughts as well.
I’ll only share the story with my family memeber who knows me better than others.
Wao….i like your “essay”
sorry my poor english XD
Some years later I did think about this “problem”. That was when I had two essay topics which were really interesting. One is to write about a world where people understand all the thoughts of each other (of course, including unspoken ones). The other is to write a story, a fiction, about your trip to Mars; you meet aliens and the worst thing: they know all that happen to come across your mind.
What you shared is meaningful. And it’s not only not to tell bad things about/to somebody but also not to think/look at somebody in a bad way. That’s how to make a better society.
What you wrote is not far fetch. There are many out there who are direct with their speech and have been ostracized by society for being too frank. Try as much as they could, they could not refrain from telling facts (what they really think). For people like these, the only way is to live like a hermit, or else face cruel remarks about them. Sad….
Perhaps, that’s why the bible says in Philippians 4:8,
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
- http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%204:8;&version=31;
Hi there Steven. I am a regular viewer of Prime Time Morning. This is my first time visiting your blog and I hope you will not be offended if I gave a little feedback.
I used to be quite irritated when it came to the ‘banter’ part of your show. You liked to cut off your colleague and even the guests before they can complete their sentences. But I have noticed that you do that much less these days. Well done and keep it up.
thanks for the feedback. Sometimes we have to cut people off because we are running out of time on the show or we may feel that they are rambling.