P #1: You have a different way of thinking. Radically different. When people listen to your ideas, they would react, "eh, we never thought of this!" Most of the time, when authority figures like your teachers ask you to do something, you'll still do it, no problem, but in an unexpected, different way. You're probably good in leadership, because of your thinking. However, sometimes you feel that your ideas cannot be expressed through words. Like they're stuck inside you. When people tell you things, you'll listen but you won't necessarily accept them. Oh yeah, and you're sensitive as well. People don't mean something, but you can pick it up.
Mum: Yes, sometimes he's like that. I noticed as well.
Thanks mum for confirming the bias. To continue (this time the other promoter joined in):
P #2: I had an uncle who had not one, but two inverted loops. Since I was a kid, I found him an oddball. There was once when somebody told him that he couldn't do something. He proved them wrong. He did it. Stunned everybody. If you can harness your potential, I tell you, you can make good use of it in the future.
Me: On what basis you predict such things?
P #2: Oh, we are an established company. Been doing this for five years already. You can trust us. At first I don't believe about all these too. I was skeptical, like you. When my daughter graduated from high school, she couldn't decide on what to do. She had some problems, so I brought her to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist prescribed some medications for her and said, "eat them and you'll be alright". It had minimal effect. I never believed in those drugs. So I did some research and found this alternative way. Dermatoglyphics. I sent my daughter to be tested and apparently she had an aptitude for finance and marketing. She did a degree on those. Four years and look, she's all successful now.
Too bad you met a pretty lousy psychiatrist. You should see a psychologist instead. Or a career guidance counselor. Come to my uni, maybe? Nice story, but my question went unanswered. Again:
Me: How accurate can this test be?
The promoters went on and on with stories about other clients, but they just couldn't answer my questions right away. I guess what they were trying to tell me is this: they've been around for some time and have gathered enough data to notch up their accuracy percentage and credibility. See? I can explain better than them. QED.
The promoters tried to secure me as their newest client, offering me a "promotional price which ends after today". I let slip that I have two younger sisters, so they turned to my mum, "if your daughters want to test as well, we can offer you a package ..." Blah, blah, blah.
My mum replied, "let my son decide. If he gives the OK, I have no problem." I could see that she wanted me to do, but at the same time she still wanted to respect my decision. Enough, mum, you've spent too much today. Let me help you with your budget.
One of my mum's acquaintance cut in, "But he didn't agree also!"
P #1 cleverly answered, "he didn't say no."
Enough is enough, I rebuffed, "I don't want this."
P #2 said, "Why not? Even the blah-blah-blah also did it, why not you? Why not muster some courage and do this? Just once in your lifetime?"
"We can go to your house and do it for your daughters, by the way," P #2 changed tactics and told my mum. "You know, when you understand what's behind your fingerprints, you'll be at peace. You'll know how to chart your path. It's a guideline you can use."
In the end, after my mum and I discussed privately, we declined the offer, throwing in excuses like thinking it over lunch. The three ladies thanked them before leaving, but I had no time for manners. Straightaway exited without so much as a thank you or a backwards glance. I was so mad that I couldn't say anything.
Come to think of it, I can't really dismiss dermatoglyphics like most people laugh off Freud's theories. Yes, genes do play a part in personality, if you want to have this nature-nuture debate. Genes are inborn, yes, we can't see them unless they're expressed outwardly, like fingerprints. That much I agree with the promoters.
To say with such conviction that our traits are purely biologically determined, no, I can't accept it. Environments also have their influence, so you mustn't take them out of the equation! I have that set of fingerprints, then I also have that set of characteristics? Too deterministic for me.
Analysis of fingerprints as a guideline? True, but after knowing what's what, you'll be obsessively worrying. I don't know. I know I will, because the more I know, the more uncomfortable I become. Guide you, yes, but to where? And why need a guideline in the first place? Life is so much more fun if you just explore it. Live it. You'll stumble, arrive at dead ends, backtrack and everything, but you accumulate experiences to enrich your life. Waste time at dead ends? That's the price you pay, like tuition fee.
Maybe before I left the promoters I should use their own words back at them: "You can tell me things; I can listen but I'm not obligated to accept."
Suddenly Sandé's song, Read All About It (Part III) came to my mind and made perfect sense, especially the front part. My eyes were pricked by unbidden tears, but I quietly blinked them away. To let them fall would mean that I give in and they win.
Suddenly Sandé's song, Read All About It (Part III) came to my mind and made perfect sense, especially the front part. My eyes were pricked by unbidden tears, but I quietly blinked them away. To let them fall would mean that I give in and they win.
A day wasted for this? Urgh! I'll try to get over this episode before I sleep tonight. No meaning dwelling in this negativity.
FIN.
