Different humans have different ways of acquiring information and representing it. As a consequence, sometimes we do not understand other people's behaviour, or consider it stupid, irrational, ridiculous, outrageous...
- This is how links between people are broken;
- This is how bad first impressions are made;
- This is how great friendships never turn into reality;
- This is how conflicts can grow out of nothing, or come out of nowhere.
These things, among many others, are making our society less human-friendly, and this can't be good news.
The book
"The Curious Incident of the Dog at Midnight" is a piece of this puzzle. The character explains all his thoughts, so all his actions seem reasonable to the reader. It was clear why the guy is solving math problems when he feels fear, or why he closes his eyes when there are too many people around.
What would happen in the real world? Well, in the real world you'd say that this guy is a freak, ignoring his point of view, ignoring his explanations without even trying to hear them.
Not a big deal, who cares? Right? Well,
nobody; not until you become somebody's target, and realize that if they were in your shoes, they would not act as they do now,
because they can see things your way.
The idea is that there is a reasonable explanation for everything
(except for the things that have no reasonable explanation :-) Sometimes the explanation is not obvious, so all we have to do is
ask.
The problem with people is that
- many of us are afraid to ask;
- many are not willing to listen;
- only a small group of people are cooperative, but they are a drop in the ocean;
This results in a world of conflicts. If you are willing to speak, you are next to somebody who does not listen; if you wish to listen - the are no speakers. In the end, we have only a small chance to synchronize with those who are around us. Many of us manage to waste that opportunity when we have it.
- Never be afraid to ask questions;
- Always try to answer other people's questions if you can;
- Do not blacklist someone if they do not cooperate, maybe they just have a bad day, and they need someone who can see things from their perspective.
p.s. In SOVIET Russia other people's shoes wear YOU!!