During our most recent class discussion about ethos we
touched on how people present themselves.
Whether it may be an act or if people are truly themselves, the question
is not so easy to answer. I believe that
people present themselves depending on whom they are meeting for the first
time. A peer mostly like will be
introduced to your actual character but an adult will probably see someone more
proper. One comment has stuck in my head
about how we introduce our self to a girlfriend or boyfriend’s parents. The person roughly said we must present our
self in a likeable manner to get the approval of their parents because they
have such an influence in their child’s life.
The reason it resonated so much is because I could honestly not agree
more. From my first hand experiences I
know how vital the approval of parents can be in a relationship.
My girlfriend
Caroline and I had been dating from a couple of weeks and it came to that point
when meeting her parents was inevitable.
When she first asked me to come over for dinner my heart dropped. She knew I was nervous and tried to ease my tensions
by saying it won’t be that bad. I knew
it was going to be a rough experience so I prepped myself by practicing what I
would say. When doomsday finally was
here I prepared myself to go into battle and leave the vital approval. For such a casual dinner the initial
greetings was as formal as an interview.
Then the barrage of questions began.
I was not prepared for this I was expecting to just simply gloat about
myself in the least selfish way. Dodging
questions I would casually slip in my preplanned accomplishments. They were quite impressed with everything
that I had achieved and all of the answers I had supplied. I did so valiantly that I completed ignored
my girlfriend. For as well as I did that
night Caroline was quite annoyed. She
was so unsettled about how I acted so differently from myself that we shortly
broke up afterwards. Upon reflection
maybe it is truly better to just be yourself.
Awwww, I'm so sorry to hear that your girlfriend broke up with you as a result of the dinner with her parents! When it comes to first impressions, especially meeting a significant other's parents, that's always such a tough situation to be in. On the one hand, you're focused on impressing the parents but on the other, you want to also try to be yourself. Yet, I don't think you were entirely wrong for playing up your best qualities because those are also a part of you. Yeah, they might not be the qualities you highlighted most when you were with your girlfriend, but they were still within you, regardless. I don't think you should be so hard on yourself though because ultimately, you WERE being yourself when you met her parents, you were just showing a different side.
ReplyDelete