This is a lesson in simplicity. I believe in making everything as simple and easy as possible. Not only because simple flows naturally, but because simple is beautiful. One does not have to explain it; it goes straight to the core of our being. Simple does not go against the grain and complicate things unnecessarily. The truth is also simple.
This is a principle I learned in an advanced math class. That day, the teacher refused to give me the top grade, even though I had the right answer. “You went the long way: you did not use the theorem. That was the whole purpose of the exercise!” He was right, the answer was staring me in the face, but I did not see it. I was too busy proving to myself how well I could manipulate numbers. In my head, I was solving the Quadrature of the Circle. Simple, eh?
Here is another example. This one from Spanish class. In one of my early Spanish language manuals, the author had a particular style where he would add a synonym in parenthesis after any new word being learned. As in: Fútbol (or Balompié) se llama “Soccer” aquí. (Football is called Soccer here.) I started to integrate this style in all my Spanish assignments. I saw it as a way to show off my knowledge of vocabulary. My teacher at the time, hated it: he saw it as an insult. I was trying to give him a hint in case he did not know the first word, he thought. I was scolded over and over. but I never stopped. (Stubborn, eh?)
Here again, I was wrong: I sinned against simplicity! The right way would have been to use the most popular word, in that case: Fútbol. The acronym K.I.S.S. sums this up perfectly. I was plain stupid for not keeping it simple.
Needless to say I have grown to love simple things. But not simple people! I am actually allergic to stupidity. No kidding! I also think that “There is only one way to do any one thing: the right way!” (That’s my motto, by the way.) I don’t belive in gray areas. I don’t play with semantics: a door is open or closed. Computers have proven this. 1 or 0. Open or closed state, there is no in-between.
Gray is a color. It exists in Color Matching Systems, Material Color Samples, and inside this box I am working with. There is no gray in life, in relationships, etc. Those “gray” references are made just because they sound good. This is not reality.
One phrase that makes my blood boil is: “Let’s agree to disagree”. “Aaarrgh! No!” “Let’s agree to stop arguing”. Because one of us is definitely right. We cannot both be right. We still can go home with our opinion, but if we are sincere, we will check the facts in order to arrive at the correct conclusion.
This is one very gritty side of me. I got in so much trouble about these views. “Sure, Mister Perfect!” I am not Mr. Perfect, but I do believe in perfection. I remember the answer someone gave to one of those anti-perfection fanatics: “How many newborn babies are dropped in a Hospital nursery every day?” “Uh, None!” “None? So there is perfection after all!” As a flute player, I have heard perfect perfomances of very hard musical pieces or obcure and difficult scales exercises.
Be warned! Don’t come to me with any “gray” garbage, “nobody’s perfect” argument or tell me: “Let’s agree to disagree”. I might just tell you to K.I.S.S… (Some get it, some don’t!)
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Blog post by Tatán
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