Beauty

[Avatar]

Damn you Plissken, I can't tell if you're joking or serious.

Not really, but then again maybe yes. Very small immediate family. So for real crises, there isn't much other family to go to.

Certainly not for my social group, which is very small these days.

--A

[lucimay]

Plissken...

Avatar wrote:

But when I talk about my lack of empathy, I mean that I regard that possibility, even the certainty, should I have it, with no more emotional attachment than I experience when considering that Arch-Duke Ferdinand was assasinated. It has no emotional impact on me. I know it. I just don't feel anything about it.

--A

Any chance that you are the "GoTo Guy" for your family or social group during a crisis?

[sgt.null]

i always end up taking over in crisis. when my dad died, during the hurricane week spent at work.

[Plissken]

Damn you Plissken, I can't tell if you're joking or serious.

Not really, but then again maybe yes. Very small immediate family. So for real crises, there isn't much other family to go to.

Certainly not for my social group, which is very small these days.

--A

Actually, I'm quite serious. Ever since I was a kid, I've been responsible for keeping things together and doing what needs to be done when a tragedy or crisis occurs. I'm still trying to figure out the Chicken/Egg relationship between that fact and the fact that I'm pretty unemotional during said tragedies, but once everything's all over, I can "release" if necessary.

It was your bit about the Archduke that sounded familiar...

(I now return you to your previously scheduled topic.)

[sgt.null]

Plissken: how do you release? i usually watch a movie. after a hard day at work after inmates confronting you, nothing beats a good zombie movie.

[Plissken]

I thought you knew: I come pick a fight here at the 'Tank on a topic that's tangentally related to whatever the crisis was!




(It's very cathartic!)

[sgt.null]

so i remind you of folks at the work place?

[Plissken]

No, I'm talking about real crisis. Not, "Oooohhh, I'm so pissed at my boss/co-workers," crisis.

[sgt.null]

oh, have had plenty of that the past two years. i'm hoping for a nice quiet new year. no hospital visits, no losing family members. no housing crisis, no damn hurricanes, or escapes from work. i hope that for everyone.

[Plissken]

oh, have had plenty of that the past two years. i'm hoping for a nice quiet new year. no hospital visits, no losing family members. no housing crisis, no damn hurricanes, or escapes from work. i hope that for everyone.

Second that. I'm damned tired.

[Prebe]

or escapes from work. i hope that for everyone.

We don't normally have that problem, but thanks anyway

[Avatar]

Actually, I'm quite serious. Ever since I was a kid, I've been responsible for keeping things together and doing what needs to be done when a tragedy or crisis occurs. I'm still trying to figure out the Chicken/Egg relationship between that fact and the fact that I'm pretty unemotional during said tragedies, but once everything's all over, I can "release" if necessary.

It was your bit about the Archduke that sounded familiar...

(I now return you to your previously scheduled topic.)

Hold on, let's talk about this for a bit instead...it may end up being related you know.

It's good to be unemotional in a crisis. Emotions get in the way. Unemotional, and you can give objective and rational advice/response, and that is what people need in those circumstances. You're rarely telling them anything they don't know, they're just so tangled up in the feeling of it, that they can't get over that, and think about it for themselves.

But I don't get much "releasing" done, even afterwards. I internalise it until it's gone, and that's that on the whole. Probably most unhealthy, bottling things up, I know. But when something happens/is done, if you can't do anything that will change it, no point in getting worked up over it, I think.

--A

[The Laughing Man]

it would be "interesting" to see what would happen in one of Plissken's crises if he chose to be inactive? risky bidness.....eh?

[Avatar]

Aah, that's one of the hardest things...to do nothing when you could do something...as you should know.

--A

[sgt.null]

when I stand back and let the crisis proceed, no one does a damn thing. if an inmate gets violent and i let someone else deal that person just makes the problem worse. if i talk to the inmates involved, there is usually a quick resolution. sometimes it's removing the party or parties, sometimes it's cussing louder than the inmate. and that proves funny, because others can step in and do the same that i would do, and it goes badly. something about the force of personality.

[Plissken]

Actually, I'm quite serious. Ever since I was a kid, I've been responsible for keeping things together and doing what needs to be done when a tragedy or crisis occurs. I'm still trying to figure out the Chicken/Egg relationship between that fact and the fact that I'm pretty unemotional during said tragedies, but once everything's all over, I can "release" if necessary.

It was your bit about the Archduke that sounded familiar...

(I now return you to your previously scheduled topic.)

Hold on, let's talk about this for a bit instead...it may end up being related you know.

It's good to be unemotional in a crisis. Emotions get in the way. Unemotional, and you can give objective and rational advice/response, and that is what people need in those circumstances. You're rarely telling them anything they don't know, they're just so tangled up in the feeling of it, that they can't get over that, and think about it for themselves.

I understand that emotions get in the way of problem-solving - I just sometimes get a bit resentful of the people who get to run around hollerin' "Woe is me! Oh, woe..." and accomplishing nothing, while I do the heavy lifting. (If you think about it Av, sacrificing your right to run about like a chicken with your head cut off, so that the appropriate things get done in a crisis, shows more empathy than the self-obsessed little pinpricks who want to sit around telling each other about their feelings.)

[Avatar]

Very true. In my case though, I really don't give up anything, and certainly not so that appropriate things can be done. If I'm not personally involved, it doesn't bother me to simply watch people running around...in fact, I often derive some small amusement from it, and am not above poking a little fun at those doing so.

It's not a crisis dependant "attitude," I just don't feel the pain and anguish of other people, even when I know it's there or can see it. That's not to say I don't feel my own pain and anguish, just not theirs.

It gives me a more objective appreciation of the amazing qualities of life...although perhaps a shallower one, emotionally speaking.

--A

[lucimay]

wait...what's the topic here? we're now exploring emotions or empathy or crisis or what?

addressing emotions and crisis...i was a nursing assistant on the Hemotology/Oncology wing at a teaching hospital in Ky for 3.5 years...PLENTY of crisis. now i am an emotion machine...EVERYthing i feel is written all over my face, i cry at the drop of a hat, i'm sappy, sentimental, and when excited over something, ANYthing, i'm evangelically exuberant...just exTREMEly emotional...but 9 times out of 10, when the "code" alarm went off on our wing (someone is in some kind of respiratory or cardiac arrest) i was usually the first one there and FREQUENTLY had to do CPR until Code Team arrived...i was VERY good in crisis...cool, all business, do the job and get it done right. didn't panic, still don't when we have stupid office crisises (sp?). i am emotional but do not panic in crisis.
of course i do start shaking as soon as said crisis is over but during, i'm good.
i don't think i lack empathy during crisis i don't think, but i do remain calm until resolution.
is this what you're talking about?
or have i derailed? that's always possible.

[sgt.null]

i'm the guy ordering folks about and getting annoyed with the crying folks.

[Avatar]

It's impossible to derail one of my topics LuciMay, because I don't worry about where they take us. Hell, I started the derailment long ago.

I think we're talking empathy here, but I could be wrong. I don't think that having empathy would necessarily affect somebodies abilities in a crisis, but it's possible I suppose. Professionals in any field though are meant to be just that: professional. And that, I think, carries many people through.

I wonder though, just to swing this back on track for a moment, how does empathy or lack thereof affect our perception of beauty?

Does it make us more aware of the poignant nature of some types of beauty? Less responsive if we lack it? To some types maybe? Not sure.

Afterall, we haven't really decided what beauty is yet, have we? Can we?

--A