Colors and Character
Normally, my essays have a sort of a form or rhyme or reason to them, but not this one. Consider this one a more of a 'Trying to get my thoughts out' kind of essay. Enjoy.
Recently in one of my classes, we took a test to determine what kind of character we are. It first involved a series of situations and how you would react, generally, and then which characteristic best described you, a total of 45 questions. This test was named after the man who founded it, but I can't seem to recall it at this time. As we went through, I found several questions that I could have answered with several letters and then some that I couldn't find an answer.
One that seems to stick out to me goes as follows: 'Choose the characteristic that best describes you: A) always right B) guilt-prone C) unenthusiastic D) uncommitted.' I do not consider myself remotely any of these. I didn't want to answer it, but I decided that I think that my opinion is right unless the other person brings up a logical argument or evidence to go against my opinion. So, right off the bat, I think that I might be sorta, sometimes, very briefly, always right. It just doesn't work.
Another that was particularly bothersome was 'When I fail, I feel: A) silently self-critical, yet verbally stubborn and defensive B) guilty, self-critical, and vulnerable to depression - I dwell on it. C) unsettled and fearful, but I keep to myself D) embarrassed and nervous - seeking to escape the situation.' I wanted to add 'E) Pick myself up, learn from it, and move on' because that describes how I deal with failure more accurately than ANY of those. I basically thought, "Well, sometimes, I guess I kinda feel sorta embarrassed and maybe I might want to immediately escape that certain situation, but realize that mistakes are part of life and I need to accept them in order to become successful." Am I really abnormal enough that personality tests don't always work with me?
One more example: 'I am: A) opinionated B) loving C) inventive D) outgoing.' All four of these describe me most of the time. I have opinions on almost anything and I think I am usually right on these opinions. I am very loving. I can be very inventive and I am pretty outgoing. None of these describe better than any other one.
Soon you will see why a few of these questions really bothered me. After we were done, we tallied up our scores and then we were told what each letter represented. A is the color red. They are usually more of a leadership person, but are very controlling. B is blue, who were the care takers, but are over critical. C is the color white, which are the peacemakers; however, they are very lazy. Finally, D represents the color yellow, the party animals, who have short attention spans.
Most people in the class were clear cut. Some had 20 in a single color, some more. However, I found that my score was as follows: A) 11 B) 13 C) 10 D)12. They are all almost the same. After I found this out, the problems that made me indecisive may have skewed my score. Some of them, I picked a random one out of the many that described me. Others, I picked the one that most described me sometimes out of the ones that pertained to me not.
I don't quite know why this bothers me. I mean, it's just a silly test that means absolutely nothing. I guess it must be the idea behind it - the idea that one can predict how humans being will act and react to certain things. I know that to a certain point, you probably can for many people, but I think they are leaving out an important factor.
After the class was over, I was talking to a friend of mine, and she said, "Well Luke, you have a very complex personality!" That made me realize that no person could ever be fully described in a single color. I realized that many of us are described in a collage of colors, each competing for the spotlight, yet each taking up a fair amount of space. Each color takes up the amount of space we give it.
Each color has its darker counterpart. Some of the negative aspects described in the test include: stressed, shy, low energy, sloppy, insensitive, unrealistic, and slothful. The dark spots only take up the amount of space we give it. We can choose to let the dark of the colors dominate our personalities and our lives, or we can squeeze out the darkness and replace it with the positive aspects, like assertiveness, confidence, energy, calmness, likeability, organized, and negotiable.
As you can tell, I am a firm believer in change. I believe that no person is set to be a sort of person. I know that people can change their basic nature. I think that people who believe in fate things like horoscopes are placing their faith in vain. If I may quote myself, "The man who thinks that his life is predetermined and that each day, he must act, do, and think a certain way merely because he was 'born that way,' has chosen to throw away the miracle that is change and resign himself to a life of meaningless servitude to his archaic instincts."
I don't know if this is more of a rant or more of an essay, but either way, I hope you learned something or I caused you to think about something.
Colors. Who knew?
Recently in one of my classes, we took a test to determine what kind of character we are. It first involved a series of situations and how you would react, generally, and then which characteristic best described you, a total of 45 questions. This test was named after the man who founded it, but I can't seem to recall it at this time. As we went through, I found several questions that I could have answered with several letters and then some that I couldn't find an answer.
One that seems to stick out to me goes as follows: 'Choose the characteristic that best describes you: A) always right B) guilt-prone C) unenthusiastic D) uncommitted.' I do not consider myself remotely any of these. I didn't want to answer it, but I decided that I think that my opinion is right unless the other person brings up a logical argument or evidence to go against my opinion. So, right off the bat, I think that I might be sorta, sometimes, very briefly, always right. It just doesn't work.
Another that was particularly bothersome was 'When I fail, I feel: A) silently self-critical, yet verbally stubborn and defensive B) guilty, self-critical, and vulnerable to depression - I dwell on it. C) unsettled and fearful, but I keep to myself D) embarrassed and nervous - seeking to escape the situation.' I wanted to add 'E) Pick myself up, learn from it, and move on' because that describes how I deal with failure more accurately than ANY of those. I basically thought, "Well, sometimes, I guess I kinda feel sorta embarrassed and maybe I might want to immediately escape that certain situation, but realize that mistakes are part of life and I need to accept them in order to become successful." Am I really abnormal enough that personality tests don't always work with me?
One more example: 'I am: A) opinionated B) loving C) inventive D) outgoing.' All four of these describe me most of the time. I have opinions on almost anything and I think I am usually right on these opinions. I am very loving. I can be very inventive and I am pretty outgoing. None of these describe better than any other one.
Soon you will see why a few of these questions really bothered me. After we were done, we tallied up our scores and then we were told what each letter represented. A is the color red. They are usually more of a leadership person, but are very controlling. B is blue, who were the care takers, but are over critical. C is the color white, which are the peacemakers; however, they are very lazy. Finally, D represents the color yellow, the party animals, who have short attention spans.
Most people in the class were clear cut. Some had 20 in a single color, some more. However, I found that my score was as follows: A) 11 B) 13 C) 10 D)12. They are all almost the same. After I found this out, the problems that made me indecisive may have skewed my score. Some of them, I picked a random one out of the many that described me. Others, I picked the one that most described me sometimes out of the ones that pertained to me not.
I don't quite know why this bothers me. I mean, it's just a silly test that means absolutely nothing. I guess it must be the idea behind it - the idea that one can predict how humans being will act and react to certain things. I know that to a certain point, you probably can for many people, but I think they are leaving out an important factor.
After the class was over, I was talking to a friend of mine, and she said, "Well Luke, you have a very complex personality!" That made me realize that no person could ever be fully described in a single color. I realized that many of us are described in a collage of colors, each competing for the spotlight, yet each taking up a fair amount of space. Each color takes up the amount of space we give it.
Each color has its darker counterpart. Some of the negative aspects described in the test include: stressed, shy, low energy, sloppy, insensitive, unrealistic, and slothful. The dark spots only take up the amount of space we give it. We can choose to let the dark of the colors dominate our personalities and our lives, or we can squeeze out the darkness and replace it with the positive aspects, like assertiveness, confidence, energy, calmness, likeability, organized, and negotiable.
As you can tell, I am a firm believer in change. I believe that no person is set to be a sort of person. I know that people can change their basic nature. I think that people who believe in fate things like horoscopes are placing their faith in vain. If I may quote myself, "The man who thinks that his life is predetermined and that each day, he must act, do, and think a certain way merely because he was 'born that way,' has chosen to throw away the miracle that is change and resign himself to a life of meaningless servitude to his archaic instincts."
I don't know if this is more of a rant or more of an essay, but either way, I hope you learned something or I caused you to think about something.
Colors. Who knew?
2/22/13