Going through these in a more in-depth way gave me the idea that when I finish all these questions, I’m going to go back and use these answers to give more thoughtful responses to where I am on the spectrum of each statement. Then I’ll plug those into the quiz and see if it gives me a different personality type than the ENFP-A that I originally got. As I mentioned, I was so closely in the middle that I had assumed I could probably take this on four different days and get four different responses. So it’ll be interesting to see where I land after taking this much time to delve into where I fit. But given that I’m doing around three per day, it’ll take 20 days total to finish it up, plus maybe another couple to settle Where on each statement’s spectrum I fall.
Anyway, on with the responses.
16. You enjoy participating in group activities
In general, yes. I call myself an outgoing introvert, meaning that I enjoy group activities, but eventually I have to get away and be by myself in order to recharge my batteries.
But I do enjoy getting together with groups of people.
One of my favorites over the years has been our holiday meetings at my brother-in-law’s place. His place has become THE place where I can get together with both my sons. While I talk to my younger son regularly on the phone, and visit him a few times a year in Vegas, and I also get together regularly with my older son, about the only place I see them together is when we all meet for the holiday get-togethers at my brother-in-laws.
But I love big get-togethers with friends and co-workers as well.
I had mentioned in a previous section that we have a pretty social office atmosphere. When covid hit back in 2020, and everyone was working from home, my boss was not happy. Our IT guy stayed on premises the entire time. I came back after a month, and a few others came back quickly enough too.
But as the time stretched on, and people stayed working at home, he was definitely missing the interaction. As we’ve hired on new people, one of the criteria has been finding someone who is willing to come in. I suppose that selection process has brought in people who are more comfortable socially, but for whatever reason, our office environment is filled with people who like the social aspect. So I love whenever we have parties or office lunches. We regularly gather to chat over things.
I used to do this at church when I was in leadership, but not anymore. Though we still get together after drive-thru prayer for dinner. Or at least we did last year.
Anyway, yes, I love group activities.
17. You like books and movies that make you come up with your own interpretation of the ending
I think I do. I’m trying to think of some movies or shows that have done this. It’s not so much my own interpretation of the ending, but I certainly like shows that make me think.
I was watching a Korean show called One Spring Night a while back. It’s a love story between a young single father, whose ex-wife had deserted him, and an independent librarian who falls in love with him.
The real hitch, in Korean society, is that he is a single father. Apparently that carries some sort of stigma. People figure there must have been something wrong with him to make his wife leave him, or maybe he just has bad ‘juju’ that caused the misfortune. Then there is a whole stigma about the woman getting involved with him because she would have to raise a child that isn’t her own, which again, is apparently a really big deal in Korean society. All this is complicated by the fact that the girl is in a long-term relationship with a guy who checks all the boxes for marriage material, but who she clearly doesn’t connect with, and is feeling increasingly distant.
When she does finally decide to end it, the boyfriend tries to override this by saying it’s not just her decision to make. He goes behind her back to get her father’s permission. And then the role of parents in their daughter’s decision comes up. The perspective of how both guys match up on the list of marriage material comes into play.
What made me think was that in the show, this is portrayed as societal pressure. But I was recognizing that here, some of these same pressures are being applied by women on themselves. For example the list of qualifications that many women judge potential mates by, is essentially the same as those employed by the Korean parents. Of course self-imposed restrictions are always more acceptable than those placed on you from outside, so there is that, but at any rate, there was a lot that I found interesting in that show. The role of society and the honor/shame culture that makes it so difficult to go against the grain.
Another movie that made me think was Munich. The story is about the PLO’s killing of Israeli athletes at the 72 Munich Olympics and the subsequent retaliations. The Israeli’s decide to retaliate with a series of public executions of the responsible palestinians, with the stated goal that “the world will understand that killing Jews will be an expensive proposition.” But then the palestinians begin to hunt the Mossad agents as well and exact even more revenge. The entire scenario brings up questions about following orders blindly, the moral questions involved in doing so. And in particular, it made me think of the Jews entering the promised land and needing to execute the people living there. We know from reading the Bible, that the Lord was finished with the people living in the land, and that they had been given ample time to repent, but hadn’t. This judgment was on them for their sins. But the individuals that had to go into those cities and hack down man, woman, and child, didn’t have that luxury. They didn’t know what the history was, they were merely being told to follow this order, and that if they didn’t, there would retribution not only on their heads, but on the entire congregation. That’s not an easy thing to swallow.
I remember the charge that the Israelites gave Joshua- We will listen to you, but only be sure that you are following the Lord.
There have been a lot of developments over the last 100 years with regard to this. The classic Nazi defense at the Nuremburg trials was that they were ‘just following orders’. They had no choice.
This was overruled in that the sheer moral horror of the acts should have been understood as immoral, regardless of the command structure, and they had, as human beings, a moral obligation to not follow those orders.
So would I, as a believer, follow an order from God to kill another human? There are all kinds of questions that pop up, I know, but these are the questions that the movie confronted.
Anyway, yes, I do like books and movies that make me think. The specific statement- do I like such that make me “come up with my own interpretation of the ending”…. I’m not sure I can think of a particular book or movie that has made me do that.
Perhaps some of the Italian movies, which don’t seem to have ‘endings’ per se. Their modus operandi seems to be to show a slice of life. Things happen and then the end of portraying the events comes, but there doesn’t seem to be a resolution. American movies like to tie things up. Italian movies don’t. I guess that’s more true to life, but it also doesn’t feel as satisfying.
I’m not sure if this is the kind of thing they are talking about with finding my own interpretation. I decide to google this very thing. Some of the movies they listed, that I had seen were Lost in Translation, Total Recall, Gone Girl, Inception, Blade Runner, the Graduate, and the Prestige. I liked all those movies, so I suppose I do.
18. Your happiness comes more from helping others accomplish things than your own accomplishments
Interesting statement. I do love helping other people, and the times I’m most satisfied with in my life have been when helping others. We took in a friend from church who was essentially homeless and kept her dog for 5 months, and then she too stayed with us off and on until she got her own place again. Because of that, we ended up having another lady we knew stay with us for 15 months. She was homeless at the time, and without our help, I’m sure she would have been permanently homeless. She is now back on her feet and doing well. Those were difficult days, but at the same time, some of the things I’m proudest of. Any of the people I’ve prayed for, and spent time helping, those are moments I wouldn’t trade and I’ve found them the most satisfying in my life.
So I suppose that my happiness does come more from helping others, but then again, I wouldn’t be in a position to help them had I not accomplished things on my own too. Or at least it seems that way to me. Perhaps the Lord would have blessed me enough to give out, even had I not been working towards my own accomplishments.
Back around 2005 or so, I had the opportunity to go to work for Cartoon Network. I was doing freelance work for them on the Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends show, and several of the guys that had been at our studio, had moved on to work full time for CN. I was offered the chance, but chose to remain freelance so that I could continue to devote more time to the ministry work I had been doing. Several of the guys have gone on to better careers because of that move. My freelance work eventually dwindled until I had to give it up altogether and move where I am now.
I don’t know if I would have had a better, more fulfilling work career, but I certainly wouldn’t have had as many ministry opportunities as I did. So I have made specific decisions in my life because I wanted to serve others more than myself.
In the last four years, after having been blessed with more financial stability, I’ve often wondered if I should have quit freelance earlier and gotten a job. Perhaps I would have been making more, and I certainly would have been in a better financial position, but I’m happy now, I was happy then, so I suppose, while we can always second-guess our decisions, I’m not going to. I’m just going to be content in the circumstances I find myself in and let it be.
And since the statement was particularly directed towards not just helping others in general, but helping others “accomplish things”, maybe I should try to address that as well. I do, when I have the chance, like to see others succeed. I’m not jealous of others accomplishments, I don’t get envious when other people are given accolades or recognition. I will offer help to just about anyone that asks me… at least if I know them already. I’m not gonna hand out money to solicitations on the street. But if a friend, or co-worker needs a hand, I’m usually up to help as much as I can.
The answer to the question then is yes, my happiness comes more from helping others.