Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.
By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.
What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.
When I was doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge last month, I posted old sayings or adages daily and in alphabetical order, A through Z. One of the old adages I came across, but did not use was this: “Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.”
The suggestion to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes means that, before judging someone, you must understand his or her experiences, challenges, thought processes, etc. In effect, it is a reminder to practice empathy.
And that brings me to this week’s provocative question.
If you could choose anyone, past or present, and walk that proverbial mile in his or her shoes, who would you choose, and why would you choose that person?
If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.
This, That, and the Other 
Nice blog
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Thanks!
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My pleasure, followed you!
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That’s a hard one as I never wanted to “be” anyone other than who I am, so I’m going to change this up a bit. I would love to transport myself to ancient Greece and listen to Plato. Sure, the guy was a misogynist by today’s standards (and Sparta’s standards at the time) but I would love to have heard his discourse in person.
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Be sure to bring your smartphone with Google Translate on it so you can understand what he’s saying…unless you already speak Greek. 😉
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I don’t think that would help with Attic Greek lol. Now, I would be on easy street if he spoke Latin but wrong time period lol
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I shall be so nosy as to ask you, Mr. Bump, what you mean by because there are lots of people out there who don’t seem to mind them. (Them: being food banks and homelessness.)
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I’m in the process of stating, legally, that I don’t want to die in a hospital or nursing home but at home (with definitions). I hope that works.
I like your thinking on experiencing something in order to be more in touch with reality — and, perhaps, to develop some empathy.
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At the highest level, politicians allow these things to happen, so they don’t mind. But more broadly, those same politicians stand and are elected. So, electors clearly do not rate something like homelessness to be an issue of sufficient importance that it will determine which way they vote.
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(I’m the one who writes the Mr Bump blog btw,)
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How come, if you changed your blog’s name, you still show up in the comments as Stroke Survivor? Do you need to change you Avatar name?
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I figure that:
I am still called Stroke Survivor.
My blog is called Mister Bump.
I believe it would be straightforward to change my personal name, but I did not do so, just in case it all went belly up. My plan was to make the change sometime, but now I’m not so sure because every comment I write would be by some guy nobody ever heard of. Whereas now, I am some guy *mostly* nobody ever heard of 😆
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😂
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😂
I did figure out it was you.
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Not sure if that’s a good thing 🙂
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It’s really sad. In America, it’s even basically an ideology (hardheartedness and lack of connection to reality… and active denial). Thank you for your answer.
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I think I would choose someone such as MLK or Mark Nanos, which are very different kinds of people but also very similar. One has gone through great oppression and even assassination (I certainly don’t want to experience the assassination but could handle other aspects). But, then, that’s not exactly answering the question with it’s intention… except maybe a little bit.
I very much admire these people, and I am sure I would enjoy what they did/do. Intricate people. (Noticing that I have chosen two men, let me say Brigitte Kahl could possibly be in the stead of Mark Nanos. Perhaps Harriet Tubman for Martin Luther King Junior.) Would I find that being a hero isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? I doubt it. I know it would be trying and difficult.
Obviously, one set of people had to go through more than the other (in their own days). I’m not looking for suffering, quite. I’m seeing the passion and the brilliance for real-world difference-making, and in-depth writing with three of those at least — and the opportunity to live one’s life fully expressing that out to the world and interacting with others having a like* drive.
*But hardly anyone quite has the same drive and understanding. Would that be frustrating? [I could say Jael or Jesus or Paul, but then I think I’d be biting off more than I could… chews.]
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That’s a tough one. There are and were so many very interesting people.
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That’s the idea behind asking a provocative question, right?
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Exactly! 🙂
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Here ya go: http://sparksfromacombustiblemind.com/2020/05/20/fpq-70/
WARNING. I’d take some anti-acid before I read that. It will possibly cause you to have an excess of acid in your digestive bits.
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Yeah, glimpsing inside his head probably would cause instant regurgitation.
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This is an interesting and thought provoking question. Which is, I suppose, the point, right? I have no response, mind you, but it did kinda take me aback – just such an interesting think to think…
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Yes, that is the point, indeed! 😉
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Easy one for me. I’d like to take a trip through my ex husband’s fucked up head to try to understand why he’s such an asshole and what made him basically disown our two wonderful daughters who did nothing to deserve that even if I was a “bad wife” (which I wasn’t)…
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Hmm, I think that might be dangerous ground to tread.
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nothing like an amicable split 😆😆😆
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Thanks. It’s heartbreaking for me to know my kids are deprived of a father out of probably pure spite. I don’t see other divorced men acting like this.
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No, a friend of mine is exactly the same, no contact whatever with the father afterwards. It’s desparately sad because when I last saw them, they appeared to be a happy family. But kids aren’t stupid, and will see what he has done, and how much time he has for them. My wife did not bother with her father from the age of 18 until his death, and never a regret on her part. He sounded like a bad guy and I’m glad I never met him.
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I would choose my daughter who has been “ through the mill” the past few years. With eight children there is always something. . .She handles everything in silent calmness. I have never been able to do that. My admiration complete.
Sent from my iPad
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I gave this some thought and I would have to say my ex-husband. To understand or at least feel that pull of alcoholism that took over his life. Not being an addict I just don’t see how he could disappoint his daughter and ultimately drink himself to death. A waste of what once was a wonderful man.
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