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That anti-social term that Michael is throwing at me is indeed an overstatement. I forgot how many times he hurled the word and it’s getting into me and that’s a serious accusation.
Hmmm… what does the term means anyway?
The English Thesaurus gives the word the following meaning: “…unsociable, unfriendly, disagreeable, shy, disruptive, rebellious, harmful, inconsiderable, selfish…” Am none of those…not absolutely though.
Okey, am shy at times, but definitely harmless and positively selfless. There’s no way either that I am unsociable… I would rather say, am cautious or a bit selective for practical and personal reason.
There may be times or as a rule of thumb, I don’t like wasting my time with nonsense talks or meeting and discussing topics with people that do not really interest me or we don’t have a common ground, much less joining groups that I find to be having unreasonable causes.
You see Michael, my dear friend, If I compel myself in establishing ally with people that I found to be not sharing the same interest or discussing stuff that I don’t really like or me talking about things that they’re not interested in, do you really think that we could get along well?
Not that I don’t have a genuine interest in people, I do, juz that most of the people around us nowadays aren’t genuine enough to spark an interest. But that doesn’t mean that I am anti-social. You see, if I am, why was I able to establish acquaintances and friendship with people I’ve met during my travels who until now are actively keeping in touch.
Why do I choose to travel alone?
That’s because I want to experience total cultural immersion – meeting other people outside of our familiar circle. We may have limited or less common grounds but what makes it interesting is the cultural exchange, the sharing of various differences, the bartering of ideas and thoughts based on each and everyone’s ethnical background.
That’s a practical example. See, if I travel with friends in our circle, which most by the way aren’t interested in traveling, and if they are, nearly everyone aren’t into cultural immersion instead basically they just want to have a nice shot with those popular landmarks. And during travels we would be discussing among us and keeps on comparing other cultures to ours rather than (my interest) of exchanging cultural stuff with others, or my idea of plunging and experiencing their culture, their traditions, their ethnicity, their social mores. And I will just feel guilty with the thought that my travel had been wasted.
Well, not that I won’t be enjoying it with friends, I surely would, but it will be more fun if I did what I wanted to do.
And the great tragedy is sometimes (or most times) eventhough we belong to the same circle, same culture, same language, same nation, even same city — yet we cannot establish an effective communication and the differences among us is quite uninteresting to discuss because the subjects are mostly on personal basis as oppose to cultural or societal as in the case of other people outside of our usual circle (i.e. other nationalities).
But for the record, I have several friends and countless acquaintances – that I would prove to be successful in a networking enterprise if ever I embark into one. And to be honest, I have some other factors that influences my belief about social limitations.
For one, I want to maintain a certain degree of privacy… am sure Michael mi amigo, that you know some of the reasons. Having said that, I assure you that I am certainly not an antisocial.
You may say – I just have some degree of fussiness at a negligible level and it’s imbedded in my DNA, yet, reasonable at that.
K.A.P.I.S.H?
