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Blackfeather Studios | LiveJournal

"Birds are entangled by their feet and men by their tongues."


It doesn't mean that I don't care.

Time is running low and my bus is leaving soon. I'm still in bed, tucked comfortably underneath my duvet. However, I am not asleep; I'm engaged in a conversation which holds all my attention. School is the least of my concerns, at least for another few minutes...

This morning didn't turn out quite how I wanted. If I could, I would have done/said things differently. But since you cannot influence the past, I'll just accept what happened, and reflect upon them, and attempt to better myself where I can.

The topic I want to address today is exactly what the title reads: Intention and interpretation.

Google defines these two words as follows:
Intention: purpose: an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions; "his intent was to provide a new translation"; "his intentions are entirely honourable"

# an act of intending; a volition that you intend to carry out; "my intention changed once I saw her".

Interpretation: a mental representation of the meaning or significance of something.
# an explanation that results from interpreting something; "the report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence".

From this, I gather that intention is what someone meant with their actions, while interpretation is how you or someone else understood them. It requires an open mind, ability to place yourself in another's shoes and acceptance of others to understand the person you're conversing with, especially if your conversation partner has different views and opinions than yourself.

I find that it's all too easy to miscommunicate when one participant in a conversation says one thing, intending it to be understood their way, while to the other participant, the same thing sounds wrong or appalling because of the meaning they give to the very same statement. It provides a breeding ground for misunderstandings and conflict.

Which is essentially what happened to me earlier.

We were talking, and surfaced a subject which usually is very enjoyable to elaborate upon. Due to time restraints however, I was unable to do what I wanted, which essentially was to make up for an otherwise screwed up morning. If I had the time, it would've benefited both parties. Now, to illustrate just how easily a statement can be misunderstood, I'll recite what happened:

I mentioned I couldn't do it due to time restraints, and he replied by saying it didn't matter whether I did it or not, making me wonder if that meant he didn't care at all... Wondering if all the times I've done the same thing before were insignificant to him.

As we talked, he made it clear that "it doesn't matter did not equal I don't care", and that a better way of saying things would be to say that "it's your choice". Heh, I didn't realize, to me it just seemed as though my actions were unimportant, at least before he clarified his intention with the statement..

See? That right there displays very well how easily miscommunication occurs!

To me, saying "it doesn't matter" is a way of expressing indifference. To him, it was obviously a way of saying "it's your choice, really". I'm sure that this example isn't unique either; it's impossible to avoid things like these and I'm certain that you, the readers, have experienced similar things at one point.

It's annoying when it happens though. Especially when the target of the resulting irritation is someone you care deeply for.
And so my question is: How do you handle things like these? How do you sort out the misunderstandings?

I'm open to suggestions as this happens far too often for my liking. I want to better myself, as well as hopefully raise awareness surrounding the matter and encourage acceptance for our next of kin. We're all different, with different experiences shaping our attitude that again defines us when interacting wit others.

I sigh heavily. It's time to start another class. It's just going to be another day . . . For now. My attention is not where it should be. I'm halfheartedly wondering if I will be selected to do the oral exams or not. But most of my attention is with my earlier conversation partner, lingering there, dwelling on what i wanted to do, am looking forward to do, if only time allows...