Let’s Talk! – Shallow Thoughts

Let’s switch off screens and put some deeper thoughts towards a new prompt from my friend Tyrean Martinson’s book! Which might be a bit challenging – deep thoughts about shallow thoughts …

Who defines what shallow is, by the way? Can the shallowness of someone be the deep thought of somebody else?

I think of superficial things first. Such as outward looks. Now, if I in my blissful way of life am wondering what to wear on any given day and am thinking that I have nothing (new) to wear in my wardrobe – that would be shallow, wouldn’t it? But if somebody else with barely anything in their closet to wear to work, and with wear and tear to their clothes, thought the same, it might be existential. Think of the food and clothing banks for the needy! To them they are lifechanging answers to some big problems.

Shallow thought (if any) is anywhere the consequences of actions are not thought over, either. Doing something for the mere pleasure of it or one’s personal experience might mean destruction to others. No, I’m not going to discuss whether or not there is climate change and whether we are all doing our very best to preserve this planet for the use of our children in the right way. I know that my convenience as in driving my car to a place within walking distance often prevails over the thought that it might take longer but also mean getting some exercise. Does that laziness get compensated by my refusal to eat my beloved white asparagus if it has been flown in from Peru, which means that its environmental impact is ever so much bigger than the short joy for my taste buds? (Wait, is that a deep thought or a shallow one?)

Shallow, to me, is also judging books by their covers, literally and virtually so. Perceiving a person as pretty and assuming that pretty is the equivalent of nice and kind is as awful as presuming the worst about somebody whose appearance doesn’t appeal to us. A title from university doesn’t mean that somebody is sophisticated – that is a matter of the heart and of appropriate putting education to work. Shallow thought, to me, is to take the headline of a newspaper article and, without even reading any further, to rant, judge, act, or discard.

In short, shallow thought is not digging deeper. It doesn’t care for spending energy on consequences or sources. It’s about short-term satisfaction and about one’s perception by others as being important. Shallow thought doesn’t know of humility; humility means considering the bigger picture and comparing it to one’s own meaning within it.

Shallow thought – indeed, sometimes it comes in handy, though. Think of all the yellow press and the entertainment it makes of so-called (or truly) very important persons. It’s mostly gossip aka shallow (mis)information and clichés, but doesn’t it make for some great pick-up lines when people try out their territory before beginning to talk serious business and without becoming too personal? As in small-talk of no consequence, at all?

The art in using shallow thought lies in knowing when one uses it for a specific purpose. The danger of shallow thought lies in being headed down that path and not realizing it.