I will say right off, from the beginning, this one may be a little strange, a bit odd. But stay with me if you can. I have point. Valid point? I do not know about that, but there will be a point.
Toilet paper plays a significant role in most of our daily lives. At least, we hope it does. If not, then you are probably experiencing some sort of gastrointestinal distress and need more fiber in your diet, or, perhaps, you are French. For most of us, however, toilet paper, in the end, is vitally important. It may not be air we breath or water we drink important, butt in the end it wipes away all of seemingly trivial items present in our daily lives. If you are an easily embarrassed sort and find yourself flushing a bit as you read, please, bear down and push onward: I will try not to let this swirl out of control.
Seriously though, many people do our best thinking in most private of spots, and sometimes those ideas lead to greatness. Sometimes, they are just ideas. I have not decided yet into which category this one might eventually drop. Here is my thought:
Does the way a person chooses to utilize TP say something about that person, his outlook or approach to life, or the principles by which he chooses to live?
By utilize, I do mean the more graphic or foul thoughts that some of you may be considering. No, I am basically referring to how an individual chooses to remove the perforated paper from the roll. There are a myriad of methods, and I would venture to say that the one that an individual selects, while not done through conscious thought, reveals much about that person. Take, as examples, the precise folder, the wadder, the catcher's mitt creator, the three square conservationist, loose layerer, or the stacker. Can a person be defined by the particular way in which he uses the bathroom roll? Does the wadder, who sends the roll spinning and gathers the long strip of quilted cloth into a bird's nest that gets the job done, approach his job the same way, never truly planning anything out precisely, but ensuring that there are plentiful resources available when needed, sometimes throwing them together as a deadline approaches, so that the process may not be pretty or efficient, but it is effective. He may roll through company resources and personnel, tossing some needlessly away without ever actually involving them in the business at hand, keeping them on the edges, even though they could be of better use elsewhere, or in the next job. This guy hopes to finish things cleanly, but he has gotten his hands dirty a time or two, usually if he has gotten into too big of a hurry or forgotten to check to see if there were adequate supplies at the beginning of the project.
Is the precision folder, and her close cousin, the three square conservationist, as neat and detailed in her personal life? Does she lay everything out, from clothes to meals to the route she will walk that evening? Precision is the goddess who guides each and every act of her day. No waste (Ok, there is waste, but no unnecessary waste). Every task is important enough to plan and every detail deserves attention. Clean. Precise. Efficient.
I will not go through each and every TP technique variation, but I hope the picture is becoming clearer. Actually, no, not the picture. That would be weird. I hope the concept, the idea is becoming clearer. However, there is one major issue, one aspect of my theory that does not quite work out. This theory is extremely hard to test. The act of using TP is, by its very nature, extremely private and unobserved. It is an extremely vulnerable time. A person is exposed, literally, and at his most human. Therefore, I truly know absolutely nothing about how a person does his paperwork. If I did know these intimate details, it would seem excessively intrusive. And kind of gross. And there, as The Bard would say, lies the rub. Or the wipe, if you will. I have no idea if the TP technique one chooses is even remotely representative of that person's lifestyle, principles, or outlook. It is a ritual performed in the seclusion of the stall, behind closed doors, alone. No one else should want to know or needs to know what occurs. Some things are not meant to be revealed, examined, or analyzed. There is always going to be something about a person that others do not know. One can take a swipe at figuring it out, but it would be only a guess, and nothing more. There are aspects of each person's life, each person's character, which most people keep hidden, either by choice or necessity.
It is something to think about, while one sits with little else to do. In the end, however, does it really matter? In the end, does anyone really give a, well, hoot?
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