Your Profile And You
Does your profile reflect the way you see yourself or the way other people see you? If you think that it is the same thing then you have another think coming. You are only who you think you are if most other people more or less agree with that view.
When you look in a mirror you only see what you want to see. Other people do not see what you see when you look in the mirror. And they do not notice the same things about you. Some will find certain characteristics more important than others. The things that you deem as important may be completely overlooked by them.
You may stand proud because of your honesty, but it is not written on your forehead. The fact that you never lie or cheat may go unnoticed to some. Your high morals may be taken for granted and they will be quick to notice your flaws while others may stare themselves blind into your virtues and not notice your shortcomings.
Some 20 years ago I asked a number of friends and family members to assess me and to write down my strong and weak points in order of importance. Both genders were represented and their ages varied from sixteen to seventy. I was about forty five at the time. I made a similar list.
It was an eye-opener. It revealed strong points (important to them) that I did not rate as worth mentioning and weaknesses that I was not aware of. Some of the points on my list appeared nowhere while some only showed up with the younger bunch and other traits were noticed only by the older people. The most similarities were among people of more or less my own age group.
So what was the purpose of the exercise? Well, it did give me a few things to work on.
You may believe that what other people think of you is not important, but if they see you vastly different than what you see yourself then you are mispresenting yourself.
So, I ask again. Who is represented in your profile? Is it the you that you see in the mirror or the you that other people see?
Not that it is important, I just wondered.
See, the weekend has arrived. Enjoy it!
PS
I cannot find the word 'mispresenting' in any dictionary. I nevertheless used it in my blog because I cannot think of a better word. If anybody can suggest the proper word, I'd be very grateful.
Comments (77)
I thought he was doing a pretty good job of it.
You are describing a blow-up doll.
I have a good mind to smash all the mirrors in my place. I must only keep a small shard to shave every day.
You shave with a shard? Where? I don't see a beard or mustache?
Hell, those guy do things very literary. They give a meaning to every word.
Wear the vest instead. the way I know those guys it is probably bullet-proof.
Got to go now cat have good afternoon
thanks for dropping in.
The way I figure it, few profiles are totally true, some are mostly true, some are mostly BS and many are utter BS. The problem is to figure out which is which. Like my own is not totally true, but my incorrectness is by omission not by adding. Not that is right but I feel that what I kept back is my own business.
I was taking a week off from a job where I was working 7 days a week for long stints at a time. I felt tired and beat but that picture showed me how tired and beat I was so I quit the job.
On my profile pic that pretty much does it. Like the old song says, "What You See is What You Get"!!
Have you ever had that thing where someone says wow, you have a double, it's uncanny and then they introduce you to your double and you're thinking SERIOUSLY?
Why to strangers to cling to shortcomings?
Just it isn't better to pass by?
At not everything happens smoothly,
To what also the neighbor to judge?
Why others to deride to try,
Trying to discover minuses at all?
Of course, in us — there is nothing to carp,
We — are ideal! To us not ????????? sin!
Against those whom we humiliate,
We look above, and more cleverly,
At the same time loudly calling itself
Fighters, the truth fans is more courageous!
Be rude, be rude, provoke the conflicts,
Fight — for honesty, the principles!
… And nevertheless there is nothing better than the world,
Tranquility, and to the neighbor of love
Profile is like an indistinct image,If wanted to make it clear, we need use other ways of communication to see and to feel in real that how far and how close or similar to his/her profile...
Someone said;"See through the appearance to perceive the essence." Err, but it's not an easy job for me...
Have a nice day!
I think the profiles contain too much info. IMO it should contain a pic and the physical properties of the person, ie length, build, eye color, etc.
I seldom read the profiles. You get to know the people better by reading their posts.
That is the spirit, girl. Enjoy the good and reject the bad.
Hmm, the fact is that some people are honest and some lie in their profiles, yet everybody claim to be true. The problem is to find out who is who.
Not too long ago I saw a pic here and I thought it was my daughter. Of course when I visited the profile and looked at the rest of her pics, you could see it was somebody else. On only that one pic she resembled my daughter.
Btw I have a pic of somebody who teaches English in upper Mongolia. I showed it to a lot of people, including my father and sister, and they all think that the pic if of me.
It's funny, like so many times in the past, this blog was misinterpreted. I was not really pressing about people lying on the profiles. What I tried to press home was that we don't always know who we are and because of that, profiles are not always a true reflection of the person.
Profiles are not interactive. You cannot question them. Blogs and other posts are more revealing. For that reason I don't communicate with people unless I know them from the blogs.
There are people soul deep as the ocean into which there is a wish to plunge. And there are people as pools which need to be bypassed not to be soiled...
Yes, I think that is how it works for most of us here. At least for those without hidden agendas and ulterior motives.
True, here on-line, we need to select our friends the same as we would in real life. They say if you sleep with the dogs, you wake up with the fleas.
Without reading the comments, my profile is written the way I see myself and reflects the way I feel about myself and life in general.
Of course, some parts might also be the way my friends see me?
Misrepresent
mis·rep·re·sent
?mis?repr?'zent/
verb
verb: misrepresent; 3rd person present: misrepresents; past tense: misrepresented; past participle: misrepresented; gerund or present participle: misrepresenting
give a false or misleading account of the nature of.
"you are misrepresenting the views of the government"
synonyms: give a false account, misreport, misquote, quote/take out of context, misinterpret, put a spin on, skew, warp, falsify, distort, misstate, exaggerate
"you are misrepresenting the views of the government"
Thanks to Oldblue and aRrAe.
Really? It is an old English proverb.
Quite so and very true.