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NaNo 2006 Winner
Exercise #234

Exercise #234: Self Knowledge
Posted 10/19/07

I was angry. How dare she tell my boss that lie? What gall! What a conniving little . . .

Well. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Someone, somewhere, has wronged us. Done something they shouldn’t. Told somebody something awful about us. Stolen our lunch from the office refrigerator.

Find one of these scenes from your past. Feel the anger? The righteous rage?

Good. Now reverse it. This time, play the scene out in your head with the roles reversed. This time, you stole her lunch.

Now write. Show us the scene with you as the aggressor instead of the victim, and give us a good reason for whatever it is you’ve done.

Word limit: 1200
Please use the subject line:
       SUB: Exercise #234/yourname

This self-knowledge exercise will hopefully get you thinking about how it might be possible that someone could wrong you without really wronging you, or without intending it. Perhaps the next time we feel like we’re getting the short end of the stick, we’ll see how the stick is the same length on both ends after all.

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