Chapter 10The Path of least resistanceWord格式文档下载.docx

1、 “Dont you think zombies know that are zombie?” he answered with great sincerity. His wife realized she was not getting anywhere, so she called his mother and told her what was going on. His mother tried to help. “I am your mother, wouldnt I know if I gave birth to a zombie?” “You didnt,” he explain

2、ed, “I became a zombie later.” “I didnt raise my son to be a zombie, or especially to think he is a zombie,” his mother pleaded. “Nonetheless, I am a zombie,” he said, unmoved by his mothers appeal to his identity and sense of guilt. Later that day his wife called in their minister to talk to her hu

3、sband.“You are not a zombie, you are probably going through a midlife crisis,” the minister said, trying to be the psychologist he always wanted to be.“Zombie dont have middle crisis,” was all the man replied. The minister recommended a psychiatrist. The wife got an emergency appointment, and within

4、 the hour the husband was in the psychiatrists office.“So, you think you are a zombie?” the psychiatrist asked.“I know I am a zombie,” the man said.“Tell me, do zombies bleed?“Of course not,” said the man, “Zombies are the living dead. They dont bleed.” The man was a little annoyed at the psychiatri

5、sts patronizing question.“Well, watch this,” said the psychiatrist as he picked up a pin. He took the mans finger and made a tiny pin prick. The man looked at his finger with great amazement and said nothing for three or four minutes.“What do you know,” the man finally said, “zombies do bleed! There

6、 once a lion who came upon a monkey. The lion thought this was a good chance to conform his position of prominence in the jungle.“Hey, monkey!” the lion growled.“Yes, sire,” the monkey answered in a shaky voice.“Who is the king of the jungle?!” the lion growled even louder.“Why, you are, sire, you a

7、re!“And dont you forget it!” the lion said, very pleased with himself. A little later the lion came upon a zebra.“Hey you zebra!” the lion roared.“Yes, sire,” the zebra answered in a nasal voice.“Whos the king of the jungle?” the lion roared some more.“You are, sire, you are!” the zebra said with a

8、timid and forced enthusiasm. A little later the lion came upon an elephant. “Hey you, elephant! Whos the king of the jungle?” the lion roared and growled with his most ferocious roar and growl. Without saying a word, the elephant picked up the lion with his trunk and threw the lion against a tree. T

9、hen he walked over to the lion and stepped on his tail. Then the elephant picked up again and slammed him down on the ground. As the elephant walked away, the battered lion lifted his head and yelled, “Hey, dont get mad just because you dont know the answer! Some people have a lot of trouble with re

10、ality. It seems as if it should be simple enough: See the obvious. But as children we have all had the experience of saying something that was undeniably accurate, only to be shushed up by an adult. “Grandmas house has a funny smell.” “Quiet. Dont say that!” Children learn to lie because that is one

11、 of their only defenses against authority, who are often many times their size and weight. “Were you in my closet? “Uh, no.” “Then why is your gum wrapper in my closet? “Uh, er I dont know.” “Did you do your homework? “Uh, yes I did it, but I left it on the bus.” “This is the third time this week yo

12、u didnt have your homework, and you always have some flimsy excuse.” “Uh well, a lot of weird things happen to my homework. I cant help it.” “What time did you get in last night? “Not too late.” “Well, I happen to know it was two-thirty in the morning! “Gee, it didnt seem that late. Anyway, we had a

13、 flat tire. And if you knew what time it was, why did you ask me? “I was just wondering if you knew! “Well, I ah didnt think it was that late because my watch broke.” “Let me see your watch.” “I, ah cant find it.” “What is that on your wrist? “Oh thats a different watch.” And as adults: “Do you know

14、 how fast you were driving? “No, was I faster than the speed limit? “The radar clocked you at seventy-five.” “Really, it didnt seem that fast. Maybe my speedometer is broken.” Give Me a Good Reason Not describing reality accurately often becomes self-propaganda. You may be late for an appointment an

15、d on your way over think up the most plausible excuse. By the time you arrive not only are you ready to recite it, but you almost believe it yourself. Avoiding describing reality accurately is often a strategy to overcome the negative consequences of your actions. Our society puts a high premium on

16、reason and excuses. Most people learn that if they have a good reason for not succeeding, they can sometimes avoid negative consequences. Many people misrepresent reality though a smoke screen of plausible-sounding reasons that are designed to distract themselves and others from the truth. Some peop

17、le learn that others put less pressure on them when they are sick. So they often get sick to have a legitimate excuse not to live up to expectations. Some people use being in a state of emotional upheaval as an excuse: “If Im upset, do not ask to be responsible.” Being a “victim of circumstances” is

18、 a common reason some people use to explain their actions. “Look, I tried to be at Saras birthday party, but my boss called just as I was leaving the house. You know how much he loves to talk. So I was stuck on the phone with him. What do you want me to do, lose my job? The defense of Dan White, who

19、 shot San Francisco councilman Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, was that his blood sugar was off that day. This became known as the “Twinkie” defense. The defense was taken seriously. White got off with a light sentence. A society that fosters reasons and excuses for irresponsible of destructiv

20、e behavior has little chance of reaching its potential greatness. Since the tradition of the arts does have a standard of reaching for what is highest in humanity, are excuses seen as valid or needed? The “I had a good reason” excuse is seldom found in the arts as an attempt to explain a bad perform

21、ance, a bad film, a bad painting, a bad record, a bad play, a bad novel, or a bad poem. Some people seem to enjoy concocting a dramatic explanation for why they cant have what they want. The love of reasons for why you “cant” can supersede the pursuit of what you want. Reasons Sometimes knowing the

22、reasons for failure can help you adjust the actions you take to shape your final creation. But this is quite different from using reasons to justify failure. Discovering the effect of the actions you take is designed to be a learning experience, rather than a justification for not succeeding. For ex

23、ample, it is important to know the cause of the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle that cost the lives of the crew. Knowing has at least two functions. One is to correct the error in the future, to enable those who next venture into space to be as safe as we can possibly manage. Knowing what

24、happened also helps ease the pain sometimes evoked by reality. It is hard to accept that those very special people, the crew of the Challenger, are gone from our midst, especially since just moments before the explosion they were waving to us on network television. It is hard to witness some of the

25、best of our generation taken so quickly and so dramatically. When we have an explanation, it helps us to accept the truth- that they are gone, that we will not see them again in this life, that the full promise of what their lives could have been in the future is now impossible. It is common for peo

26、ple to fill themselves with details when they lose a loved one. What did he do in his last days? What did he do or say in his last hours? Who was with him when he died? What was the medical explanation for the death? Was there anything that could have saved him? What real difference do the answers t

27、o these questions make? None in reality. No amount of detail about the circumstances of someones death brings that person back. Then what is the purpose of wanting to know? Knowing the detail of “how it happened” helps you learn a reality that is hard to accept. The period of grieving is a time to t

28、each yourself the reality that someone or something is gone. Often people who are grieving over the death of a loved one experience phases of emotional upheaval, followed by phases of resolution and peace. Then, as if from nowhere, their emotional upheaval begins again. Each time this happens, the g

29、rieving person confronts a different aspect of the reality of loss. Until he or she accepts all of reality, the grieving person is not able to move on fully in life. That person can become fixated on the past, trying to hold on to the time when his or her loved one was still alive. When my father di

30、ed, my mother was not able to accept the reality that he was gone. She left his belongings exactly as they were on the day he died. She would not let anyone move or change his closet, dresser, or night table. She kept the workbench at which my father practiced his hobby of making stained glass just

31、as it was on the day he died. I think she thought that she was being true to him by preserving these objects just as he had them. As if, somehow, that would bring him back. Her family and friends tried to help her through her grief, but she was inconsolable. She tried to keep my father alive in her mind, and