Like an iceberg, there's much more to the average person than you might think, if you only had the chance to know more than one side of them. Below, I'm going to share some of the personas others have developed about me, and describe how perception doesn't always equate with reality. I'll conclude with how all of this ties together with the world of crypto, helping to make me the well-rounded person I am now.
The honest man (who tells white lies)
If you've read my blog over time, you'll recall me sharing about how I was cloistered away due to a disability which kept me honest in a world that could be anything but that. I remember thinking that everyone was just like me, until time taught me otherwise. Even today, when people want to know the truth about a conflict for instance, they know who to come to.
We were working at a factory once where there was a dispute between the workers and a supervisor. After returning to the office, everyone began loudly yelling to tell management what happened. The senior manager held up his hands, quieting everybody, then ordered everyone out except me. Once they were all gone, he said: "you're the only one I trust to tell me the truth." Which I did.
I don't share this to crow about my character, as I remain perplexed that more people don't seem to have a strong moral foundation. But I'm aware that I was raised under a unique set of circumstances that combined to mold me into the honest person that everyone knows now. It is what it is, and I couldn't imagine being any other way.
That being said, I don't subscribe to the personality types that call themselves "brutally honest." to me, these are intellectually lazy folks, who aren't curious enough to build a bank of inventive responses to various situations. So they resort to just bluntly saying the first caveman-like thought that vomits from their minds no matter the effect it has on others. I know there's a better way.
I've given the example of a heavy woman trying on a new dress that makes her look fat. A brutish person would say she looks like a pig, and ruin her day. But I would tell her she looks dynamite in the other dress with the large black & white checkered pattern, knowing that tends to create a more flattering look for large people.
This all comes from years of watching my uncle humiliate my beloved grandmother while she was getting dressed for him to take her to the hospital. In his drug-infused mind, he thought nothing of ordering her to change dresses five or six times, while hurling insults in her direction. Often she'd cry, and I'd console her, but as a young boy, I could do little more than that. But you'd best believe that once I was old enough, I put a complete stop to all of that.
So I grew into a man that saw no reason to hurt someone unnecessarily. The truth can be told in such a way as to build up the person instead of tearing them down. I have no problem telling a white lie, while gently steering them to a place of truth which makes them feel great, and even thinking it was their idea in the first place. I'm heartened that as her vision and mind began to falter in her old age, I was always able to diplomatically suggest things that made grandmother feel good, and look good, whenever she stepped out.
The misunderstood patriot
The first thing you need to know about me is that I am a red-blooded American patriot, full stop. We fly the flag on the 4th of July, and I love my country. Where does that come from? Both of my parents were raised on farms, so as a city kid, I inherited their attachment to the land, and small-town values.
What I'm speaking of here, is the theoretical America, not the behemoth bent on overthrowing other governments as with Salvador Allende in Chile, or Muammar Qaddafi in Libya, that's not my vision of the USA.
You know, the whole freedom of speech, freedom of expression, separation of church and state; that America.
Mine would be more of a Mayberry, R.F.D. type. I know, its a vision long since gone in much of a nation riven today by political division, but one only has to imagine what the world would be like if this country never existed. The planet would have taken another path, and the world wars would have had a very different ending.
If the United States sank beneath the waves tomorrow, which country would emerge as a counterweight to Russia and China? Without the States available as backup, the EU might finally step into its own, and become solely responsible for the defense of Europe.
The instructor of my class in Germany found out what kind of person I am when he attacked me for wearing my US flag t-shirt. He assumed I was a Trump supporter because of it, and you better believe I tore into him in return. I stood up and slammed him for going after us, while reminding him that we had to go in twice to clean up the mess made by his country, at the cost of many American lives.
We still have troops over there right now, so I wasn't about to take any crap from him, and I think he was surprised at how strongly I shot back. The sight of five Americans wearing flag shirts somehow offended him into singling us out, but I was having none of it.
If you're going to point out the bad things we've done as a nation, fine. But also consider our good deeds as well, and for God's sake, please separate your hatred of the actions of the US government, from the American people. The President doesn't call me to ask for permission when he's about to bomb a country into the stone age. Your problem is with the US gevernment, not the people.
This patriotism of mine can lead to some interesting assumptions amongst others, and foster valuable conversations. It's amazing how one shirt can cause someone to tie you to a political party or candidate.
In a Walmart last year, I was amused as a man got worked up at the flag on my shirt in the run-up to Independence Day. Hand on chin, I had a wry smile on my face and said nothing as he unloaded his frustrations about a particular man onto me. He obviously hasn't seen my tweets around election time, or he might have had a very different response. But I was having too much fun that day watching him have a complete melt down over a piece of fabric.
The many accounts of someone coming to the United States for a better life, and through hard work and opportunity finding it, is a testament to the fact that the American Dream is indeed attainable.
The crypto-prepper
The other person I'm known as is that guy who's into Bitcoin, and likely has a bomb shelter in his basement. They think I have a ten-year supply of MRE's, and that we worship a blockchain God as part of some dystopian cargo-cult bent on surviving the Apocalypse.
car·go cult
/ˈkärɡō kəlt/
noun
(in the Melanesian Islands) a system of belief based around the expected arrival of ancestral spirits in ships bringing cargoes of food and other goods.
When friends view me through this crypto-lens, this is what they picture. Instead of viewing the whole man, they've distilled an image based upon only one part of who I actually am.
I swear, some of these people need a hobby or something, as I don't know where they come up with this nonsense. To the uninformed, the blockchain represents the specter of a shadowy world where secretive traders invest in mysterious "tokens" representing who knows what. The lack of understanding and a willingness to learn more about the subject, leaves them floating in the darkness, completely unprepared for the future.
What I've come to realize is that some will "get" crypto and the blockchain, and some won't. We cannot be responsible for how others choose to see us. The information is out there for anyone willing to obtain it. To me, crypto stands for freedom. It also offers the prospect of financial independence from the chains of our legacy monetary system.And in the end...
All of these facets of my personality have combined to create someone who doesn't wish to rely on the traditional financial system. The prospect of the Libyan Gold Dinar, and the conflict created to stop it, is yet another good reason for the options available with cryptocurrency.
"Qaddafi's government holds 143 tons of gold, and a similar amount in silver ... This gold was accumulated prior to the current rebellion and was intended to be used to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar. This plan was designed to provide the Francophone African Countries with an alternative to the French franc (CFA)."
The blockchain came along at just the right time, and fits me like a glove. Hive is the crypto alternative which enhances our freedom.
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