Friday 15 June 2012

Is the glass half empty or half full?


I had a discussion with a very good friend of mine in the pub about this. We both have similar incomes, are married, have kids, nice homes and in many ways our lives are similar. However, where as he fills totally fulfilled I do not. I must stress as I did with he that this in no way means that I do not love my family or life any less. I believe my family mean every bit as much to me as his does to him and in that respect are wholly equal.

I've had similar discussions with other friends and sometimes, strangely, it seems a bone of contention. Some, particularly wives, seem outraged that I should possibly want more than I have, more than they have (or perhaps just dislike me for prompting their husbands to consider the question). Yet at the same time I feel, probably unjustifiably, they're often trying to convince themselves that what they have is enough and that agreeing or empathising with me would be acknowledging a lack of fulfilment. 

The truth is I think neither is true. As we're talking about a pub conversation let's put it into a pub context. Let's suppose that two men both order half a pint of beer. One person has his served in a half pint glass which is full, the other has a pint glass that is half empty/full (not going to get into that one). Both have equal quantities of beer, but one has the capacity for more and hence has a feeling that there is room for more.

To be honest I was quite pleased with my analogy but this seemed to anger some even more. How dare I suggest that my glass was larger than theirs, blah, blah, rant! Guess there's no pleasing some people ....

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