Tag Archives: autobiography

Biography

Biography: (n) an account of someone’s life written by someone else.

Dictionary B

An autobiography: lies I am willing to share about myself.

A biography: lies which others are willing to share about me.

  • Truth is more precious than gold.
  • It is also more difficult to find.
  • It is also more frightening than all the demons of hell.

The reason that truth is avoided is that we cannot control the reaction of others. Since life seems to be about finding favor among our fellows, we try to extract the best rendition of the story of our choices.

So we are often disappointed to discover that the biography of the life of someone we revere fails to mention some of the flaws while also exaggerating the virtues.

Is it possible to produce a biography which is faithful to the facts without tainting the subject of our story so much that people are left unimpressed?

When we consider the statement that “truth makes us free,” what we come up with is that if the truth were spoken about each of us, we are freed from the need to judge others, knowing how easy it would be for them to judge us.

But as long as the human race wants to put white hats on the good guys and black hats on the bad guys … we probably will never learn to affix gray hats on us all. 

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Autobiography

Autobiography: (n) an account of a person’s life written by that person.

Every one of us exaggerates our toleration.dictionary with letter A

In an attempt to come off open-minded, generous or even willing, we put forth the idea that we are much more free in our thinking than we actually are.

This is true of autobiographies.

If I were to be honest, I would have to tell you that any sentence that begins with “I” which does not contain some shape or form of self-deprecation will be viewed by the listener or the reader as vain.

Even “I went to the store” reeks of self-involvement or threatens the inception of a boring tale.

I don’t know how the autobiography got started–because unless you’re confessing your sins, shortcomings or warning others of the dangers of poorly pursued habits, books that begin with “I” always end up feeling like a poke in the eye.

Matter of fact, I have begun to ration the number of times I allow myself to use the words “I” or “me.”

It’s not because I’m noble. It’s because there is no possibility that anyone else will find my “I” storyline nearly as fascinating as I conceived it.

But if you do not write your autobiography, you’re at the mercy of someone in the future who actually finds you interesting enough to pen a biography concerning your life and deeds.

That could be risky. After all, maybe after you’re dead, your rendition of life may not be nearly as interesting as you thought it was. And a neutral party may choose to be a bit more clinical than you.

But still, all in all, it’s much safer to stay away from “I” when it comes to reciting your deeds. Because even though we insist that confidence is a good thing, it really is more like the three wishes from the genie in the bottle:

Choose and use wisely.

 

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