Part
One. The Close-Range Character (Bin)
1. He obsesses over his myopic view of the world. The
character becomes consumed by an obsession and obsession distorts perspective,
common sense, and sanity. For example, professors go to grammar conferences and
get into fistfights over a semicolon rule controversy. Or sports fans with
different caps stab each other at sporting events. What started out as a fun
game becomes so personal that people will kill each other.
2. He acts on compulsion rather than cool, detached
rational powers. When we talk about compulsion, we often have to look at
unconscious motivations. In Bin’s case, he has a huge ego and he is a man who
strains for significance and high regard.
3. He is fueled by the need for instant gratification.
Bin does not have the adult’s poise or patience or ability to wait and let his
enemy make the wrong move.
4. He obsesses over the trees while forgetting to see the
forest. When you stare at the trees too long, you forget that a forest fire is
approaching or fail to see the general scenery around you. This impedes you
from “knowing the situation.” Always know the situation. For example, in
college I was very strict about my workout schedule and would go straight to
the gym after Abnormal Psychology class. After taking an exam, a beautiful
woman asked me to celebrate with her in the ale house, and I told her I had to
go the gym. I failed to see the situation.
5. In his need to fulfill his short-term goals, he
sacrifices his more important long-term goals. Bin would rather humiliate his
bosses for the short-term, even if it means compromising the living conditions
for him and his family over the long-term. In America, spending in for
short-term gratification leads to long-term debt. As of 2009, the average
American has $15,500 credit card debt.
6. Short-term is related to ego; long-term is related to
real self-interests. The ego does not know what it really wants, just as the
self-indulgent man is not happy. The ego run amok means recklessness. The ego
is a reckless beast. Professional athletes are coddled and worshipped, but
their egos lack direction. As a result, over 75% of NFL and NBA players are
bankrupt 5 years after retiring.
7. The Close-Ranger is less likely to succeed because he
lacks self-control. For evidence of this, we can look to the Walter Mischel
Marshmallow experiment. Children who could suppress their desire for one
marshmallow would get two and later in life they became more successful.
8. The Close-Ranger is more volatile and is a slave to
his emotional tumult whereas the Long-Ranger is more even-keeled. Once the
Close-Ranger loses his temper, the damage he does in both words and actions is
often irreparable. He tends to burn bridges and can never rebuild those bridges
again.
9. The Close-Ranger always “shoots himself in the foot”
and then has to rationalize his actions, blaming others for his own pettiness
and volatility, making him defensive and angry toward others.
10.
The Close-Ranger doesn’t
take well to criticism from others and reaches the point where “everyone is
wrong and I’m right.” Or he says, “I am a genius surrounded by a confederacy of
dunces.”
11.
The Close-Ranger tends
to be centripetal, meaning he doesn’t mature, becoming a more and more intense
version of who he already is, while the Long-Ranger tends toward growth, making
him centrifugal.
Part
Two. The Long-Ranger
1.
The Long-Ranger
sacrifices immediate gratification for long-term goals. He goes to college,
languishes in poverty while his friends work full-time, knowing that in 5 years
his friends will be cleaning his septic tank.
2.
The Long-Ranger is
indifferent to public approval, thus does not need to go into debt buying
bling, using money that could have gone to his education. Instead, he focuses
on his goals based on self-knowledge, not the adulation of others.
3.
The Long-Ranger is not a
slave of his own psychology and its concomitant compulsions. Rather, he is a
student of psychology and is aware of the pitfalls of getting too absorbed by
emotion. His ability to “read others” makes him a formidable adversary and
gives him the weapons to tame his own demons. We all have demons from family
conflicts, personal failures, regret, broken hearts, etc. The question isn’t
whether we have demons or not. The question is do we have the tools to tame
those demons. Honest self-introspection, which allows us take an unflinching
inventory of our faults and weaknesses, is the beginning of taming our demons.
4.
Long-Rangers can
identify the foibles and dangers of Close-Rangers and tend to avoid them.
Long-Rangers tend to hang out with other Long-Rangers. Losers like to hang out
with their own because misery loves company. Winners are smart enough not get
dragged down into the hellhole with losers.
5.
Metacognition is the ability to step
back and observe your behavior before you act on it: Writes Jonah Leher in the
The New Yorker: “In adults, this skill is often referred to as metacognition,
or thinking about thinking, and it’s what allows people to outsmart their
shortcomings.”
6.
Long-Rangers have
intelligence plus self-control, the ability to suppress desire. Self-control
and the ability to suppress impulses is part of being street smart. Pure
intelligence isn’t enough. A lot of intelligent people are lost souls because
they’re slaves to their emotions.
7.
Long-Rangers don’t wait
for the “right feeling” to take the right action. They perform the right action
first. The right action is then followed by the right feeling. This in turn
creates habits of self-improvement, contrasting with the Close-Ranger’s habits
of self-destruction. Interview people and you’ll find people with discipline
are happier than those who are shackled to the chains of laziness and random
behavior. You need structure in your life to be happy.
Part Three. Lessons Learned from Walter Mischel Marshmallow Study (use for research paper if you decide on this topic)
Self-Control Is the Key to Success
Don't! The Secret of Self-Control
Part Four. Taking Another Look at Option 3: Write a 6-page research paper that contrasts the character who sees the big picture, a Long-Ranger, and one who is focused on the small picture, a Close-Ranger. Use people you know and characters from the novel to explain these two diametrically opposed orientations.
Suggested structure: In two pages, analyze the areas of your life that you are successful in exercising control to delay gratification and the areas where you're not so successful. Explain your successes and failures. In the third page, analyze the lessons we can learn from the Walter Mischel study. Then in your third page, analyze Bin as a Close-Ranger evidenced by ______________, ______________, ________________, and ___________________. Your Bin analysis will cover 3 pages for a total of 6 pages. Be sure to include a Works Cited page.
Part 5: Write down your 3 long-range qualities and contrast them with your 3 close-range ones. Or if you don't want to analyze yourself, use someone you know.
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