I recently spoke to an old friend, a well known sportswriter whom I know from masters swimming, for the first time in over a year. He filled me in on what he's been up to and explained why he hadn't been swimming. The conversation then proceeded like this:
Me (semi-facetiously): I guess you need me to encourage you more.
Me (semi-facetiously): I guess you need me to encourage you more.
Friend: Well, Jeff encourages me to get in the pool too, but he does it in a nice way.
Me: What, I'm not being nice when I encourage you?
Friend: Well, you can be sort of a prick about it.
There are times when I know I act like a prick (as on this blog, when I tell a harsh truth, or mock people). In person, most of the time I think I'm just sort of neutral. And there are a few, rarer, times when I think I'm being nice.
The thing is, I actually thought I was being nice when I was encouraging my friend to swim.
But if I actually come across like a prick when I think I'm being nice, how much of a prick must I come across like when I know I'm being one?
Disconcerting thought.
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2 comments:
I'm sure many sociopaths think they are being nice, when they are actually pricks.
That said, your friend sounds like a puss. Every puss needs a prick.
Anon --
Ha!
Well, I'm going to defend both of us: I'm not a sociopath (although that of course is exactly what a sociopath would say). And my friend is actually not a puss.
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