Thursday, January 26, 2012

Day 240: Remember the Time...

On one episode of Family Guy, Brian hears that Quagmire hates him, so one day he waits outside of Quagmire's house so he can strike up a conversation and smooth things over. He starts out by making small talk and then sees a battered girl standing on the doorstep of Quagmire's house.

He comments about how hot she is and how she must have been some piece of ass. Quagmire then replies that the girl is, in fact, his sister who was staying with him because her boyfriend mercilessly beats her. He then asks if Brian also wants to make fun of his deaf brother.

The boyfriend then shows up to beat Quagmire's sister again and Quagmire asks Brian if he can hear that she's being beaten up. He replies, "I'm not deaf," which Quagmire takes as a shot at his deaf brother.

Essentially, this is a case of mistaken assumptions. Brian knows that Quagmire is a complete man whore, so he tries to stroke his ego by telling him what a hot chick he scored. Unfortunately, that person turns out to be his sister. And when Brian uses a well-known cliche by dryly remarking that he's not deaf, Quagmire thinks he's insulting his handicapped brother, when Brian is just trying to make polite conversation.

Remember the time I felt this way during every single conversation with one of my friends from New York?

This guy, Matt, was on my basketball team for several seasons that stretched into several years and, like all the other members on my New York basketball team, I felt like we became really good friends. Yet every time we talked either one on one or in a group, I felt like I said something that offended him. Eventually, I came to think that he tolerated me because of all the innocent things I said that somehow turned out to be insulting.

For example, I was telling our other teammates a story about how Matt and I were talking to members of another team, and I kept referring to this other team as the "black team." I had thought that everyone knew that I was referring to their jersey color, but apparently people were giving he and I weird looks that I didn't notice, so Matt had to interrupt me and say "the black-shirted team" then looked at me like, "why are you dragging me into this seemingly racist story?"

And I could go on and on with examples, but my point is that sometimes people's personalities just don't mesh. Those who are more reserved and on the quiet side just may not get along with those who joke all the time and are a bit more boisterous. And that's OK. But I just wish he knew I never meant to offend or insult him. 'Cause I actually think he was one of the most genuinely nice guys I had the privilege to know in New York.

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