Tuesday, October 31, 2006

The 6 Highly Effective Ploys of the Immature...

Catchy, huh? I chose 6 because it is the "number of man". Since immaturity is a thing which plagues mankind from infancy to 2nd childhood, I thought it funny.

So, what the heck. Here goes.

1. Impatience
2. Emotional Manipulation
3. Laziness
4. The Eternal Victim
5. Selfishness
6. Uncontrolled Anger

I'm sure I could come up with more. I could have gone for the 7 deadly sins. But then, really those were just a smorgasboard put up by the Catholic church to bribe people into more penitent payments.

So, why am I writing about this? Am I making a public point about a private frustration? Possibly. Am I writing from a place of conviction? Definitely.

Here's the deal. We all struggle with these things on varying levels of failure and success. I don't have a problem with the struggle. I find it abhorrent when a person uses the Six as weapons or the means to an end.

What is the cost? First and foremost is relationship. Secondly is that everyone around you is required to either pay for and compensate for your total disregard for them and their own lives or relinquish the relationship.

It is a gift that we are able to start a relationship with a beautiful blank slate. We start fresh. Trust is inherent, to a degree. Respect is a given if the other individual desires to value you.

But what happens when you, when I, manipulate to make a point, gain prestige, find empathy? When we rage to determine an outcome? When we resist by ceasing to move forward?

The very thing we have hoped for vanishes from our grasping, insecure little fingers. We become bitter. We rely on our Tools over and over again until our sincerity rings false and when we do have a sincere need for the affection and support of others, all anyone else hears is "WOLF!!".

Is that how I really want to live? My closest allies suspicious of every word I speak? Passionate declarations falling on deaf ears.

Immaturity leads us to live a life of duck and cover. Immaturity robs us of the opportunities we would have to forge long and lasting relationships with others.

In the end, we stand all alone with a fist raised to the sky. We are angry that we are alone and "misunderstood".

But the only one we can blame for our isolation is ourselves.