Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Big Red Ball

I’ve been analyzing why some exchanges with some people seem so wearing. I’ve contributed it to the red ball theory. What is it? Well, it goes something like this.

Someone engages, hires you, etc. to work on a project. You discuss ideas. You excitedly brainstorm. You puff up all these wonderful ideas into a big red ball. You throw the ball to your companion (co-worker, boss, etc.) and it lands on the ground. That person may be busy, occupied with other things – whatever reason, they don’t catch it. Ok fine, the ball is still firm, so you go to pick it up and try throwing it again. You watch the beautiful, bright ball go up in the air and then crash to the ground, again. Hmmm. The other person did say they wanted the ball tossed, didn’t they? What to do? You try again. You run over, pick up the ball, and throw again. Still, it lands on the ground. And now, the ball is slowly starting to deflate. You keep at this until suddenly the ball is completely flat. This has happened to me recently. I kept chasing after the ball until I ran out of steam. The bigger question for me is, am I the person throwing the ball? Or the ball itself?