Tuesday, January 31, 2006

¿Qué Jesús Haría?

Tomorrow I start nights. You'll learn all about them in good time, I'm sure. For the moment though I wanted to do something I've never done before and ask people's opinion on a situation that arose last week.

I'm going to be as brief as I can because I want to go to bed:

I was out drinking. I saw another guy there who I thought was really attractive. I imagined that, were I not in a relationship already, he would be the type of person I'd really fancy. I stood up and realised he was in a wheelchair. I was suddenly no longer attracted to him.

I felt extremely guilty for a moment. It passed.

Do other people think, or know, that they would have felt like this? Is it only natural? Or horribly unfair?

What say ye?

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd have felt bad about it, and tried to get past it, but I think I would have probably felt the same.

6:41 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is such an interesting question.... it's been bugging me all day. Probably all of the above. I had a talk with a friend about it and his take on it was that in both cases it was a physical reaction and you just can't legislate for that. The fact you're questioning it has to be a good thing though..?

PS for what it's worth - seen ? Any use? A bit belated for you, perhaps?

12:17 am  
Blogger Dr Dork said...

That's an interesting question.

We all...discriminate...in terms of selecting relationships.

It's not like you're considering someone as an employee and discriminating :)

Physical attraction is just pre-conditioning, in my opinion, in an evoutionary sense, and we're not in full control of it.

It's noble that you are considerate enough to feel guilty at all. Sadly, many wouldn't even do that.

10:50 am  
Blogger The Venial Sinner said...

Thanks guys, I suppose the reason it was bothering me afterwards relates to the fact the I suspected my reaction was probably nothing out of the ordinary. But, if my reaction was the norm, then how hard must it be?

My fear of falling great heights or neurodegenerative diseases has jest redoubled.

5:47 pm  
Blogger The Venial Sinner said...

Thank you, Cuning Fox. I read that link from the Royal College of Condescension and it has rendered me in a much more jocular mood before my nightshift tonight.

I note with a wry smile:

"...taking a nap during the night is essential for maintaining vigilance and alertness...Even naps
as short as 20 to 45 minutes have been shown to provide positive benefits to shift workers. The New Deal...states that junior doctors working full shifts should receive natural breaks of at least 30 minutes continuous. Taking a brief nap during these times will refresh you..."

Riiiiight. Firstly, 30 minutes every 4 hours! Where are they living - cloud cuckooo land? Secondly, where are people actually to go for this 'refreshing nap' now that my hospital has ripped out most of the on-call rooms? I'm actually quite lucky - I still have one - but it's about a ten miunte walk away. Kinda eats into my restful sleep time, eh? Besides, I just got to the room at 4.30am for the first time last night only for my bleep to go off immediately. Then I found that the phone in the room didn't even work so I had to go all the way back!

6:26 pm  
Blogger Katy Newton said...

I've come into this a bit late, but for what it's worth my opinion is that it was both perfectly natural and horribly unfair. It is also unfair when I see someone who would really be my type and feel very, very interested... until he stands up and turns out to be 5'4".

5:16 pm  
Blogger The Venial Sinner said...

Haha, I like that, Katey. We've all known that one happen.

6:15 pm  

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