Interpetations and Horoscopes

During a recent class assignment we were required to do a physc evaluation on a classmate that we had never talked to based off of a drawing by the said classmate.

Her evaluation of me was rather perceptive in many different ways. She mentioned that I was a person who was detail-oriented and driven to acheive. At first thought, that was extremely accurate. I actually tend to get bogged down in the details in the projects that I work on, and I always want to be the best I can be.

Then I noticed that everyone in the class pretty much agreed that their partner had completely nailed their personalities. And I thought about that. Every single person in the class of 16 people had their personalities by the other person--are we really that perceptive?

So I thought about that. And I came up with this-we can apply any mental statement to almost anything. I stated that my partner was a perfectionist, she might be a perfectionist in some areas and really laid back in another. So my statement was true if we thought about it long enough. She stated that I was driven to achieve. I am driven to do well in school and always have been. But I am have a hard time driving myself in my job and cleaning my apartment. Again, the interpetation was both true and false, it simply depended on how I thought about it.

Open up any local newpaper and look up the horoscope page. Read your own horoscope and think about how it is true-and also how it is false. Now pick another sign, way different from your own. Read it. Again, think on how it is both true and false.

Notice anything. If you think about it, any one of those predictions in the local paper could be true. I especially like the ones that read: "If today is your birthday..." In addition to the vagueness of the predictions, those paragraphs have an entire year to occur in some way, shape or form-either real or imagined.

Am I reading too deep into an English assignment? Perhaps. But when you listen to almost any prediction, reading, or other such statement, notice how it could be true and false at the same time. When you think about it you'll probably notice just how vague anything can be.