Anne, Monica, Dr. Chapelle, Mehmet, Reiko and me
after our presentation in TESOL
Going back from San Antonio, I started to perceive my friends differently. It turned out that I took for granted the ability of human beings to act both positively and negatively. Probably because I was never put to a situation which required me to be constantly with other people for 24 hours, I had never seen the dark side of my personalities. When I was put in a condition which hampered me to be nice all the time, I eventually learned that at some points, I had to show the real me, which means that I did not only show my positive characteristics (nice, smiling all the time, generous, understanding, etc.), but also my negative traits (egoististical, lazy, careless, etc.).
When people are tired, after a long day of conference sessions, they might be more sensitive and easily angry. When people are crappy, looking for a privacy time, there may be a tendency of treating other people badly. I, of course, being tired of walking from session to session for a whole day and being in a need of quality time with myself, became sensitive, bad-tempered, and crappy. I don't like being treated badly, but I have to realize that as human beings, it is impossible to be "angels" all the time, particularly after a long tiring day without a time to be alone, just with yourself.
My experience in San Antonio, traveling with my three closest friends, has taught me to understand more the nature of human beings of being an "angel" at one time, and an "evil" at the other time. Quite a number of times when I was with them, I wanted to yell at them to shut up and to leave me alone. I had the urge to debate any decisions that they made for going to certain places or doing certain activities, either because I did not want to go to those places or to do those activities. I also learned that my friends who were angelic most of the times in the past or in San Antonio (understanding, attentive, willing to help and listen), sometimes they too showed the teeth of their evilish smile (being difficult to deal with, giving others a hard time, yelling).
What can I do? Patience, patience, patience. Do to others as you do unto yourself.
A hard task to do, but I'm learning and trying and applying....
At the background is the "trolley" of San Antonio
more pics are here. Enjoy!
