Personal Space?
January 28, 2009
Twice within the last week I have heard the phrase “my personal space”. The funny thing is the first time was by a beautiful almost 4 year old. I was visiting a friend and the two sisters age 6 and 4 were getting ready for bed. An altercation occurred and the 6 year old was crying. When asked what happened, she replied that the 4 year old had scratched her. When the 4 year old was asked why she scratched her sister she replied, “I needed my personal space.” Well I thought that was the best answer I had heard in a while but I tried to stay out of the situation and not laugh out loud!
A few days later I was watching TV and heard a man tell another man he was in his personal space. Since then I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve decided that personal space is so, well, personal. Who knew? Not only that but it means different things to different people, thus making it personal. Duh!
Sometimes when we declare the loudest “get out of my personal space” the truth is we really want the invader to come even closer. We have become a society of isolationist. We communicate via electronics; we spend more time separated than together and moving apart instead of closer. How sad. So the next time someone says to you “get out of my personal space” maybe what they really want is a hug. But you better make sure you’re reading the situation correctly or you may find your personal space invaded by a flying fist. And that I imagine would be very personal indeed.
Twice within the last week I have heard the phrase “my personal space”. The funny thing is the first time was by a beautiful almost 4 year old. I was visiting a friend and the two sisters age 6 and 4 were getting ready for bed. An altercation occurred and the 6 year old was crying. When asked what happened, she replied that the 4 year old had scratched her. When the 4 year old was asked why she scratched her sister she replied, “I needed my personal space.” Well I thought that was the best answer I had heard in a while but I tried to stay out of the situation and not laugh out loud!
A few days later I was watching TV and heard a man tell another man he was in his personal space. Since then I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve decided that personal space is so, well, personal. Who knew? Not only that but it means different things to different people, thus making it personal. Duh!
Sometimes when we declare the loudest “get out of my personal space” the truth is we really want the invader to come even closer. We have become a society of isolationist. We communicate via electronics; we spend more time separated than together and moving apart instead of closer. How sad. So the next time someone says to you “get out of my personal space” maybe what they really want is a hug. But you better make sure you’re reading the situation correctly or you may find your personal space invaded by a flying fist. And that I imagine would be very personal indeed.
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