Feeling Superior

Yesterday, my neighbour came over to borrow our printer to print a document that her father needed urgently because their printer had run out of ink. At that time, the only computer literate people who were awake were just Dee and I, and Dee was the one who had opened our doors to entertain them while I was isolating myself in Grandpa's room to message Sunshine.

A few moments later, Dee came in to ask me to help my neighbour with the printing. I was mildly irritated at being disrupted, but nevertheless walked out to help after asking him, "Don't you know how to do it?"

I guess he wasn't very sure how to, since he kept confirming with me if what he was doing was right. He was right, though he almost clicked the wrong things at the end.

After our neighbour left, Dee talked to me about the printing. You see, ever since we bought a wireless mouse and keyboard, one of the two USB ports we have at the CPU has been taken up by them. The other one is free for the printer or anything else. My neighbour had brought along her thumbdrive yesterday and as we couldn't keep the file open while pulling out the thumbdrive to attach the printer cable, I had to save the file she wanted onto my PC first.

Dee seemed to be wondering why I had to save the file first, so I explained all that to him. After that, he said he was saying that he had actually meant to save the file first. (okay...)

My point is that it felt good to explain when I was so sure about something. Has anyone ever realised that I usually ask people questions and they explain? I'm always there listening. I almost never explain. I never dispense advice. I'm always on the receiving end...it felt good for once to be able to talk so much about something I was sure of.

I also realised that I like to give advice to Dao. I seldom do that now, and yesterday's experience somehow reminded me of how it feels. Teaching someone who is unsure about something you know with absolute confidence is immense, overwhelming and rewarding. It rids me of my inferiority like the instantaneous effects of taking a magic pill. The pill transports me to another world where the superior and inferior switch roles. I'm almost immediately seen as the one who knows. The one you come to for all the problems you have and the one...whom you look up to...

Don't worry. I'm right back in reality now, plonked on my seat and typing this in front of my trusty laptop.