November 25
I have drawn the faults: the braggart, the miser, the flatterer, the eternal complainer. Whoever sharply recognises the vices in another already holds the mirror in hand with which to improve his own nature.
Characters (freely rendered)
Listening mode
I have drawn the faults: the braggart, the miser, the flatterer, the eternal complainer. Whoever sharply recognises the vices in another already holds the mirror in hand with which to improve his own nature.
Some quirks of other people you can describe with astonishing precision. How someone unobtrusively steers a conversation towards their own successes. How another splits every bill so that he never pays a cent too much. The precision is a pleasure, and it feels almost like proof that you yourself are different.
With others, though, what you mostly see is the behaviour. With yourself, you know the reasons first. When you talk about yourself, you only wanted to explain something. When you economise, it just happened to be a tight month. From the inside hardly any fault looks like a fault; it looks more like an understandable response to the circumstances.
That is why the sharp eye is of only limited use to you. It hits the mark as long as it is turned outward. Turn it on yourself, and beside every observation an explanation lies ready at once. Presumably it is the same one the other person would give you if you asked.
At the next dinner you talk about something that went well for you. Someone had asked about it, after all, and it feels to you like nothing more than giving information.
