Recently I have a very interesting lesson on perception and communication, my lecturer gave us this story:THE CROCODILE RIVER CASE
A lady named Abigail was in love with Gregory. They live beside a river that was full of crocodiles. They lived on the opposite sides of the river, but there was bridge; so they could cross the river and see each other often.
One day, the bridge was blown away with flood. Abigail tried cross the river to see Gregory, but she couldn't. So she requested a river-boat captain Sinbad to take her to the other side of the river. Sinbad told her that he would do so if Abigail go to bed with him. Abigail denied and complained to her friend Ivan; he just listened and did nothing. Being desperate, Abigail agreed to Sinbad's proposal and Sinbad took her to the other side of the river.
After seeing Gregory, Abigail told him about her incident; Gregory immediately left Abigail. Abigail got angry and told her misery to her friend Slug. Slug became so angry that he brutally beat Gregory. Then Abigail laughed at Gregory.
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We were supposed to write down a list stating from the worst character to least worst. After that, we have to get into groups planned by him. I was 'lucky' enough to fall into group with four girls, so I am like the opposition party there.
Here's my choice and why:
Abigail -> Ivan -> Gregory -> Sinbad -> Slug
Abigail - I really think that she's the roots of all problems. Viewing from my angle, I see her as not sacrificing for love, but her ''desire". She shouldn’t just believe that Sinbad is the only way to cross the river, you can just think of some other ways, maybe build your own boat, etc. She finally 'sacrificed' herself and expecting Gregory will accept her glory sacrifice. After she got rejected, and talk to Slug on how she feels, but end up laughing at Gregory after he was beaten up by Slug. I felt that that's really disgusting character, laughing at the one you called your love? That's not love, she sacrificed just for her needs and desire.
Ivan - my second choice is Ivan because he is the first person Abigail asked for help, but yet he is no doing anything to help. This kind of friend is really disgusting, you should at least helps to think of other ways for her, or maybe tell her it's not worth sleeping with Sinbad. It's the worst friend you will want to have.
Gregory - the story does not mention that this guy loves Abigail, so what’s wrong in rejecting someone that loves you. Should you love anyone who sacrificed to love you? Actually, if they really love each other, he should be the one who should find a way to cross the river instead. He is weak and got beaten up by Slug, so I think he deserve a third place.
Sinbad - this guy is not a friend of Abigail, so as a business point of view, he should get something back in return. It just happen that he ask for something else instead of money, but he fulfilled his promise after he gets what he wants. If you replaced money with sex, it’s just a normal trading. No one forces anyone to do anything, don’t you think so?
Slug – Overall, Slug is a straightforward person with low EQ and emotional. He try to help Abigail by beating Gregory up which does not really helps in the situation. Beating up someone may be bad physically, but I feel that he is not a bad person psychologically.
After all this discussion, we conclude that the arrangement will be like:
Abigail -> Sinbad -> Gregory -> Ivan -> Slug
That’s no way we can really convince each other in the heart, everyone tends to believe that what they think is the best. No one supposed to judge anyone base on their perception towards a certain things. You will be surprise that most of the people are not so diplomatic, I guess it takes a lot of life experiences to reach that stage. It’s ok to believe in yourself, but at least we need to respect others choices too. No one have the right to force anyone to do anything, just get the best possible compromised ways to have the work done and move on..
"It’s such a disappointment when a friend used their perception to judge you and insisted that the ways you see things are wrong."
