Vernissageversuchung

Vernissageversuchung

Vehr-niss-sarje – fair-zoo-cchoong

       Vernissage-temptation

“The urge to test whether paint marked “wet paint” really is still wet”

 I am driving in the city, there is a police car in front of me.   I think about how surprised he/she would be if I hit the police car. Now I am not talking about a full-scale crash. No, just a tap to let them know I am back here.  Now I have discovered a word for just this kind of thinking.  Vernissageversuchung!!  It is my first thought when I see the “wet paint” sign – I wonder if it is still wet—I’ll just tap it to see…   just ever so lightly touch the paint and sure enough --- it is wet.  Now, what to do?  Walk away ? or the other inexplicable thought—- I can make it better by rubbing it so that it blends into the untouched part.  Neither of those choices is either possible or satisfying.  One of my personal favorites is “no parking”.  Surely that is for everyone else.  The issue is I have a high percentage of parking where I am not supposed to and nothing happens, which only encourages me to ignore such signs in the future.  Same with Do Not Enter – for everyone else.

Is it just arrogance as we travel through space in our self-absorbed mode of transport? Are all the warnings just for the other person?  Are we that special?  In need of constant reassurance or are we still children needing to test it out for continuing ed.?   Think of the frozen pole.  As many times as we see the kid’s tongue get stuck on the frozen pole, we are pretty sure it will not happen to us.  At their earliest stage, babies start learning to distinguish themselves from outside objects.  They soon learn not to put their hand on the hot stove.  Now babies have an excuse after all they just showed up to the party.  But what is our excuse when we do things that we know will have a negative result and we do them anyway.   The idea that the world is centered around us as individuals come in various sizes.  Touching the wet paint could be just curiosity, tapping the police car is just naughty and risky. Doing the wrong thing purposely is a combination of arrogance and self-centeredness arising from failure to distinguish the self from external objects. That is the baby’s excuse, for the adult, it is a feature of mental disorder -- narcissism, hubris, or just stupidity. 

Somehow when we do something that we know will have a negative result, we do it anyway.  Is it arrogance or selfishness involving a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and a need for admiration---narcissism ---- sound familiar? Fill in the blank and you will define a long list of featured political and governmental leaders.  The perfect example is Ted Cruz’s trip to Mexico while his entire state of Texas is in crisis.  He had to know it was wrong, but he did it anyway. Clearly, the paint was wet and he chooses to sit on the bench.  For most of us, the result is small and annoying but for people in power, the inability to recognize and heed warning signs has consequences well beyond cleaning the paint off of your fingers.   The fact that they cannot or choose not to recognize their faults is a very big reason and perhaps the only reason to not put them in positions of power in the first place.  However, we, too, touch the wet paint….