Without referencing a source (other than the author, identified as Amy Morin, giving an expert opinion), an online article in Inc. claims, “Most modern-day psychologists agree there are five major personality types.” The five types, comprising the “five factor model,” according to the article, are: Conscientiousness; Extroversion; Agreeableness; Openness to Experience; and Neuroticism. Everyone possesses some degree of each, the article claims. As I understand the model, each personality type exists side-by-side on a single ribbon, with the width of each strip of the ribbon having varying degrees of influence on one’s behaviors. My college-level psychology courses, as I recall, measured and defined personality on a different scale: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI identifies sixteen personality types, categorized into two groups: introverts and extroverts. Those groups are further differentiated on the basis of combining four preference scales: introversion/extraversion (E/I); sensing/intuition (S/N); thinking/feeling (T/F); and judging/perceiving (J/P). My recollection of where my personality fell within the sixteen types is cloudy, perhaps because my type was inconsistent from one MBTI measurement to the next—and my type was measured several times during the course of my college career. However, I think the most common “learning style” was classified as INFJ, or Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, Judging. Though I remember being modestly satisfied with the way my personality was classified, I recall wondering whether the label was truly correct. And I remember wanting to change it, but nothing else quite fit, either. Despite my misgivings about the legitimacy of the MBTI scales, I was extremely interested in learning where people around me fit into the scheme. My interest in others’ core personalities remains quite strong for some reason, even today. When conversations with friends turns to the broad subject of relationships between people, the phrase “my people” often comes into play. I would be fascinated to learn the MBTI identifiers for people with whom I feel close or comfortable. I would be equally as interested to know where other people—people I find offensive or distasteful—fall on the scale. Given my creeping skepticism about the validity of personality measures, though, I wonder whether I would trust such information. My confidence in personality measures is similar to my doubt about superstitions; I don’t wholeheartedly believe in them, but just in case there’s a kernel of truth buried beneath their absurdity, exploring them may be worth my time.
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Nearly four months have passed since Hurricane Helene emerged from the Gulf of Mexico, ripping into Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, etc. Approximately 220 people died as a result of the hurricane and a still-changing number of people remain missing. The number of people left homeless in the immediate aftermath of the storm was enormous. The number of people who remain homeless is hard to know; but there is no question that figure remains quite high. But the passage of time begins to scour our brains, leaving them clean and receptive to the next unthinkable catastrophe. Those of us who felt grief and sympathy and compassion for the dead, injured, and missing when the storm’s brutality was fresh have had to return to our mundane lives. Unless the impact of such a disaster is immediate and personal, our minds cannot sustain the onslaught of emotional pain for very long. We have to move on. Yet reducing painful memories of unimaginable devastation to mere regrets seems cold and callous. Donations of cash and food and clothing may have eased our pain, but we are left to wonder whether those offerings did much good for the people who suffered through the brunt of the calamity and the chaos it left behind. But, still, we have to return to our lives. How many people in the ravaged areas have nothing to which to return? I wonder how different is the experience of losing everything to a natural disaster, versus losing it all to intentional warfare? Does one’s mind respond differently to wind and wave damage than to mortar and bomb damage? Are capricious acts of Nature easier to accept than are intentional attacks intended to kill and maim and leave entire countries in ruin?
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The inconvenience of going in this morning for an infusion of magnesium should feel like a welcome opportunity to get out of the house, when compared to the hellish conditions of people enduring starvation or life without a roof over their heads. But that comparison is far too absurd to allow the mind to process the starkness between the two experiences. We grasp at almost anything to avoid the hideousness of circumstances that have no reasonable or defensible justification. It is impossible for me to compare such utterly incomparable situations.
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Time to face up to the world around me.
