An Anomalous Belfry

Living in Reticence

I was reading a book for class the other day and came across the word "reticence" while I was reading. The word "reticence" isn't one that you use every day. ("I'd like a triple moccachino and two shots of reticence, please." or how about "I'll take a chicken kiev and hold the reticence.")

It just isn't that common.

So, I went up to the prof that is asking us to read the book and I found out what the word meant.

Reticence is all about being hesitant to speak in a given situation. When applied to the biblical text, reticence refers to the fact that when authors in the Old Testament were writing, instead of using long, grandiose introductions of a person like they do in today's literature ("she had long, golden hair that came to shoulder length and was dressed in the simple attire of a country girl"), they would be short and simple ("she was a miller's daughter"). The idea behind this methodology is that the characters would do the talking through their actions and dialogue with others and that would highlight what was important about a person.

That got me to thinking...

What if our lives were completely defined towards other people by this concept of reticence? What if we had no reputation to precede us, no way of judging someone based on a first impression, no ability to have anthing about our appearance at all to define us to people initially? What if it was only our actions and interaction with a person and their immediate contacts over time that shaped the way that we view people?

How would you change the way in which you met and got to know people?

I mean, isn't that the was that we are suppoesd to live life? Base things on the way in which we know people instead of jumping to conclusions and automatically labelling people based on our first impressions of them and using that to determine whether or not we choose to pursue a relationship with them? There will obviously be people that we don't get along with and people that we will eventually put under the category of "acquaintance", which is totally acceptable (and even justifiable) under the auspices of what I am proposing.

How would that change the way in which you relate to your friends?

Would it/could it help you appreciate them more because they were willing to spend time on you and get to know who you really are since they had gotten to know others in the same way? Would it make life that much richer?

Hey, maybe I'm off my rocker and living in a pipe dream. Maybe I'm on to something here.

Click the comments and let me know...

posted by theDING @ 13:01