For the past 10 days we have been casting our votes, either “YES” or “NO”, in a very scientific poll of my own making. You see, I have this theory and I wanted to test it.
Soooo…
I submitted the results of this poll to a psychiatrist friend of mine who I have occasion to visit once a week. We…uh…umm…how shall I put this?..We play cards each week…yes! that’s it—*we *play cards…like Gin Rummy, or Hearts…once a week together. Yeah, that’s what…
I explained to the Doctor that the votes cast were not in response to any question or any given stimulus—just a response based on personal attitude.
He mulled over the results of the for some time, then placed his pipe firmly into his mouth, lit the tobacco, blew out a puff (roomful) of smoke, and said…
“Hmmmm, very interesting.”
I smiled—he seemed genuinely interested—and I answered,
“ There were 15 ‘YES’ votes and 9 ‘NO’ votes out of 414 persons who visited the thread. It would seem to me that the 62.50% of respondents who said ‘YES’ could be classified as being positive people. It could indicate a satisfaction with their life, confidence in themselves, and they enjoy moving forward with new ideas.”
The good Dr. (MD-Phd) looked at me for a bit, the raised his left eyebrow, removed his pipe from his mouth, coughed twice, and said,
“Hmmmm, very interesting.”
I felt obliged to continue. “It would also seem to me that the 37.50% who voted ‘NO’ would be just the opposite; dissatisfied, not as happy as they would like to be, lacking confidence, and rather negative toward new ideas as a rule.”
He returned the pipe to his mouth, raised his right eyebrow, and said,
“Hmmmm, very interesting.”
****I’m really on to something here, I though to myself.] **
So I continued, “Many visitors to the thread voted in the poll, but most—**39O—**who visited only observed, about 94%, which in itself could be considered a response—you know—a non-vote, sort of like a U.S. Senator voting ‘Present’…which I understand has been done on many an occasion. Their lack of interest, or their non-response, could well indicate a general feeling of apathy, both in their lives and their daily structure. They may well be afraid to speak out for fear of being challenged, or ridiculed, even by themselves. They may have some confidence, but not enough that they could be certain of their decisions.”
The psychiatrist stared at me intently for what seemed a very long time, and finally he laid his pipe in the ashtray, folded his arms and placed his elbows on the table, leaned forward, looked me straight in the eye and said,
“Mr. Williams, I think we should schedule a second card game each week.”
