Dear [Lynn],
Well, for the record, let me say that I believe myself to be moderate here. Clearly, SOME packaging is good, and necessary. The old rule, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” applies here. We may be in bad moods sometimes. But dumping on those around us routinely, unless given clear invitation to, is probably not very considerate. And we ought to keep those less than positive things to ourselves (best foot forward, ‘eh?)
Further, the way one packages the self can express volumes about one’s inner self and how one perceives one’s relationship to the rest of humanity. The packaging used can determine how loving, useful, helpful, honest, healthy, … etcetera, one is perceived to be by others. But over packaging can be detrimental, particularly, packaging lacking sincerity. But how much is too much is not really measurable yet. And the amount and type of packaging that compliments a person is probably a function of the individual character involved. We each must figure out what the best packaging is for our individual attributes. One of life’s many assignments, right?
Thanks for the compliment. Yes, this is packaging. Packaging can reflect a person’s aspirations. Many self help books advocate “acting as if” as a means of getting yourself past a particular issue. If you want to attend more parties, but are shy at them for example, then go to one and ACT like you’re having a good time, even if you are really not. No one needs to know that detail However, should the crowd respond positively to your “actions”, then you might feel more confident (less shy) and indeed start to sincerely have a good time. Acting, used as an instrument of change, has demonstrated wide spread effectiveness. Children are encouraged to behave in certain ways even though they may not possess the wisdom to understand why such ways are appropriate, nor the desire to conform. For years, we all have had to “go through the motions” in one way or another to conform to moral codes that we may not always agree with. Such is the cost of societal living. But often, after a long period of “acting as if”, the actor internalizes the behaviors being emulated. Then, one no longer needs to act. One has actually become the person that, before, he was merely acting like. Does this make sense? At any rate, perhaps I’ve judged “actors” too harshly at times. Wow. Going to have to meditate on this one a bit.
This is actually water I’ve never charted before. Thanks for asking the question. It would seem that some packaging is required for the learning process in general. And anthropologically speaking, packaging is a basic, natural behavior of most mammals. Why should humans be any different?
Tom Hesley
