Fletcher: The pen is blue, the pen is blue, the goddamn pen is blue!
My husband and I went out to eat tonight. I've been fortunate in having a spell of overtime, but it leaves me spent after eleven hour days. So off to the trough where I don't have to cook or clean up!
We stood in line behind a large group of teenagers accompanied by two or was it three adults? The adults could have been teachers or counselors leading the outing which included pigging out at an all you can eat buffet. The skinny one was off making arrangement with the manager. I heard snippets of the conversation about price and the offer of the party room for them. She returned and spoke quietly to the dark haired one waiting with the group. The cashier began to take their drink orders.
The dark haired one turned to the remainder sharing in a whisper, 'You are all twelve.' My brain went 'Huh?' Not with the breasts on some of those girls. A few looked confused, but quickly snapped to the scam. Some were affronted. They worked really, really hard to be fourteen. Others smiled at getting something for nothing. None objected.
I wanted to raise my hand. Hey, Skinnyocchio, a lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face. A pattern is being established tonight for a way of life. Lying is okay to meet your needs. Lie your way to a better life. Lying is normal. You can trust me. I told a lie for you.
I went to the golden trough for dinner. You’ve probably eaten there too, that well known place offering steak everyday or all the shrimp you can eat? Ever notice the size of people who come to a buffet? Of course, it could just be the small town I live in. People, especially the women, are large here. Statistically, on any given day, I could see the correct percentage of the obese population coming to graze. Perhaps not. After putting my fork down, I watched my husband stack up empty plates. I wonder if he ever thinks about why he can’t stop eating when he fully acknowledges he eats too much when we come here. A disconnect from what he knows to what he does, but not really.
Errol Morris writes about anosognosia, a condition in which a person who suffers from a disability, seems unaware of or denies the existence the disability. Not-knowing things that we should know — not knowing that we are not making any sense, not knowing that we are paralyzed, not knowing we are missing limbs. Or perhaps not knowing when we should put the fork down. Dunning and Kruger* argued in their paper, “When people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it.” Forrest Gump summed it up,
"Stupid is as stupid does.
*Justin Kruger and David Dunning, “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties of Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-assessments,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999, vol. 77, no. 6, pp. 1121-1134.
