EMOTIONS
I have a reputation for being crazy.
Mind you, it’s not something I’m proud of but it is what it is. They say I’m crazy because I have a detached and critical way of looking at things. I can almost always give a unbiased view on ANY topic or issue, which means my views are usually quite objective. But as a result people find it easier to call me a psycho, because I’m so in control. They cannot believe a human being can be so unfeeling. Me, I just shrug and keep doing what I do because I understand too well how fickle human beings are. Even my better half complains that I am so hard and unemotional sometimes.
What are emotions?
In psychology emotions are complex evaluative reactions of the nervous system to external or internal stimuli. The 7th edition of the OXFORD ADVANCED LEARNERS defines it as a strong feeling such as love, fear, anger e.t.c; the part of a person’s character that consists of feelings. According to this definition, we can agree that emotions are feelings, and we have positive and negative feelings just as we have positive and negative emotions.
I have saying that ‘if nothing is hardly what it seems when you’re looking, how about when you’re not looking?’
EMOTIONS ARE LIARS. Excuse me.
I say again; EMOTIONS ARE LIARS. Before you guys get all emotional on me and leave (why else would you?); I suggest y’all take chill pills and hear my argument. I say emotions are liars because once those feelings are involved it’s really hard to stay objective.
Quick example.
You’re in a relationship which is; let’s say three months old. You and your partner have established a routine of calling each other at 1:00 am everyday except when you’re together and it’s been that way since the second month of your relationship, and it’s cool.
Then one morning you call, and a member of the opposite sex picks the phone.
Now this partner of yours lives alone except when his ‘guys’ or her ‘girls’ come over; which you would know about. None of your partner’s siblings are around, and if one of them were you would know. So there you are, on the other end of the phone and a girl just picked your man’s phone at 1:00am. What would your initial reaction be?
Remember Trapped in the Closet chapter III?
A story was shared with me once about a woman who had a dog that had been with her for years. When she had her first child, the dog was a companion and protector for the child. It got so that she would leave the house for hours, trusting her dog with her child. Then one day she came back from one of such trips to find both baby and dog gone. Typically she goes crazy, screaming her child’s name and whistling for the dog outside the house. After some time said dog walks from inside the house, blood all over its muzzle.
Immediately the hurt mother grabs a stick and beats the dog to death. It does deserve it, right? I mean, how dare it, someone who had been caring for it all those years?
Then she sits in her bedroom, crying her heart and soul out. Blaming herself for being so careless. Suddenly she hears a familiar whimper from the side of the bed. Hurriedly throwing the bed aside she looks – and discovers her baby sleeping peacefully, and beside her what looks curiously like the remains of a bush rat. It is then she remembers the scratches that lined the dog’s face.
But what is done is done. The faithful, loyal, innocent dog has been killed and sent to doggy heaven.
Imagine this woman did not have a baby. Imagine that person you called almost everyday is just a friend. No strings attached.
Emotions. I tell my better half – ‘love me with your head and not your heart’. She thinks it’s just another angle to my craziness. But reality is, if she loves me with her ‘head’ she can give the relationship the honesty, perspective and objectivity it should have. She has been with me for so long; how have I impacted her life? Is she happier? Has she lost or gained weight? Has she had plastic surgery and face-lifts and makeovers – things she did not need before she met me? Am I taking her closer to her goals or farther away from them? Does she now do drugs? Is she a better person? Is she a stronger Christian?
Emotions get in the way of rational thinking. All you see is ‘I love him, oh I love him’ even if he is beating the living daylights out of her. No disrespect to no one, but do you recall Bobby and Whitney?
I say emotions are liars because the exaggerate things and are severely overrated. Sure, they spice things up like when making out, seeing a movie or sharing ice cream- but running a relationship with emotions as the steering wheel is dangerous. You’ll crash.
They say a little jealousy is healthy in a romantic relationship, but who defines ‘a little’?
Ever seen a jealous out-of-control husband?
Emotions should be put where they belong, out of the way of rational thinking. That’s what I think anyways.
What do you think?
