Don’t we ask because we want to know? I think that we ask people what their view are on certain topics is because we wonder how our lives and thought processes compare to one another.
Secretly, I ask those ambiguous people for their thoughts simply to watch “them” try to squirm and wriggle their way into giving the most ambivalent response possible, and “they” always perform like a well-rehearsed circus trying to appeal to everyone.
We live in a time in which it has been instilled in our minds that we have every liberty under the sun—including the liberty to reject someone else’s opinion, proclaiming it invalid and wrong, simply because it does not mirror our own. I personally just like to hear people’s thoughts, ambitions, goals, opinions, etc, to get an idea of how “they” work (because I definitely don’t work the same way “they” do).
I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone’s life story or seen their accomplishments and said to myself “I want to be exactly like him/her!” I don’t think we should even be given the notion that our ever-changing lives could fit into a mold. The closest I’ve come to even shopping for a mold for my far-from-famous life has been the few times I’ve taken note of things I’ve already done in my life that I wish never to repeat and learning from those. Sure, I’ve glanced at the lives of those more fortunate than me and said “Hot damn, they’ve got it good!” But I don’t think I’d want their life if they offered it to me.
Suburbia may seem freshly painted, but when you get up close, it’s paint is chipping just like yours. The cookie cutter life we’ve all been set out to live doesn’t exist, and ideals vary from individual to individual.
You can’t expect to hear what you’d like to everytime someone opens his or her mouth, and if you do then you need to stop asking your mother. We figure out who we are based on the differing opinions of others, so if we limit ourselves to who we ask, are we limiting ourselves to who we can become? The only reason I ask all the questions I do is to make sure I know exactly who I am, and eliminate all other possibilities. I don’t let the answers I receive wind my life’s road, but instead allow those answers to pave it to make my destination more *obvious.
*None of this is to say that my life hasn’t had it’s fair share of twists and turns… After all, life’s more interesting when what you’re facing has curves.
