Rational Thought Makes My Brain Hurt

I've often heard my wife (the famous author) and others of her profession remark on the complexity of human beings. That if they tried to make characters in their books exactly like people they knew, the characters would seem unbelievable, erratic, and less-than-empathetic.

I'm thinking that it's too hard, really, to accurately represent an entire human being in all their "glory." It's hard even to think about them. Our brains have to simplify and generalize people, and groups of people, to feel comfortable. That's why we get overbroad declarations like "short people are creepy" and "The Swiss eat the souls of men."

I mean, some short people might be creepy, but they all certainly aren't. My wife Shannon has several little friends who aren't creepy at all. Not really.

Which isn't to say I don't enjoy caricatures of people. Not the sketches with big heads, but the people that really own some trait of theirs. I like it when really big people ponderously saunter and grumble like ogres, or when short folk scamper about, troll-like. It's pleasant to see dangerous looking Harley riders with big beards, or to share a meal with the jolly obese. It briefly tricks you into thinking that the world actually makes sense, and everything and everyone can be easily categorized.

But alas, they can't. And really, it's that comfortable, lazy thinking that drives all of those nasty -isms that cause so much trouble in the world. I mean, if I really believed what everyone says about the Swiss, I wouldn't eat their cheese.

And what a loss that would be. It's delicious.