The Honest Broker says this is one of the best ways to evaluate a person’s true character. Identify what irritates people the most in others—because this is probably the trait they dislike most in themselves. This is another instance in which people reveal things about themselves unintentionally. Theflaw people hate most in others is usually their own greatest weakness. My father smoked cigarettes his entire life (which they shortened appreciably). He was the most forgiving and tolerant of parents, but if I had started smoking, he would have wept. He would have accepted almost anything from me — except imitating the deadly mistake he had made, and kept making ... When we look in a mirror, we dislike seeing all the flaws in our appearance, and the same thing is true when we examine other people. They, too, are like mirrors. So, we are far more likely to forgive a weakness we have never experienced than one we struggle with daily.”
No kind deed goes ...
“As a junior cadet in the Navy, way back in the sixties, I once stumbled upon two other cadets returning to our ship from shore leave in a somewhat inebriated state,” writes Michael from Mangonui. “Being the kind-hearted sober individual that I was, I offered to prop them both up in an attempt to steady their wavy walking, so as not to draw unwelcome attention from the MPs (Military Police). You might picture this tall chap, positioned between these two shorter types, doing his best to drag them back to the vessel for a much-needed lie-down! The following morning I was duly summoned to report to the Captain’s cabin, where I was accused of being “Drunk and Disorderly whilst returning to the ship, supported on either side by two (sober) ‘Good Samaritans’!”
Following the newly minted PM’s father giving equal praise to both sons, a reader remembers a TV reporter interviewed former PM David Lange’s mother when he was declared leader. She said something like “young David was never much of an achiever, so this is nice”.
