Musings of an Idiot

Out Stealing Horses

I am reading this awesome book titled 'Out Stealing Horses' and there was this paragraph which nearly ripped open my heart with it's simplicity and insight. I had to stop reading the book so that I could just let the paragraph sink in.

'People like it when you tell them things, in suitable portions, in a modest, intimate tone, and they think they know you, but they do not, they know about you, for what they are let in on are facts, not feelings, not what your opinion is about anything at all, not how what what has happened to you and how all the decisions you have made have turned you into who you are. What they do is they fill in with their own feelings and pinions and assumptions, and they compose a new life which has precious little to do with yours, and that lets you off the hook. No-one can touch you unless you yourself want them to. You only have to be polite and smile and keep paranoid thoughts at bay, because they will talk about you no matter how much you squirm, it is inevitable, and you would do the same thing yourself.'

That's me for now.
Amit

Labels: Books

posted by Amit @ 10:02 PM