“Three Word Dialogue Exercise”
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2020
SIN SAYS create a dialogue between you and another character. Be clear on what your objective is for both characters. The catch is you can only express yourself using three words.
I was challenged by this exercise when it was presented to me in class a few months ago. The classroom was small, the table and chairs were very close together and I was 7 months pregnant. I needed more space then usual so every Monday night when I went to class, I would sit in the very first row. I would push the table that I was sitting at forward so that the rest of the people that were going to sit in my row wouldn’t bump into me as they walked by; I couldn’t simply scoot forward since my stomach was so huge. I also had a habit of carrying two heavy bags that I would put in the seat next to me, and even when every student was present this didn’t displace anyone.
On this particular Monday the class wasn’t full, but some middle-aged white dude decided that he wanted to sit in the seat directly next to me. He was uncomfortably close and for some reason he kept looking at me and my notebook as if my note taking effected him. I literally wanted to ask him why he felt the need to sit next to me, but I was too polite.
Then came this three word dialogue assignment—I knew exactly what I wanted to write. I was going to create a dialogue between me and the ass that was violating my personal space and it was going to look a little something like this…
Me: Get dafuck back.
(Three words- no room or desire to be grammatically correct.)
Ass: That’s incredibly rude.
Me: I don’t care.
Ass: You lack manners.
Me: Sit someplace else.
You get the point. My goal was to create space and the ass’s goal, well that was going to need work. I couldn’t imagine why this damn man wanted to sit next to my pregnant ass.
Nonetheless, that didn’t happen and the reason I felt challenged was because I became so concerned that he would see what I was writing and think that I was rude, or petty. I don’t know why I cared so much. He needed to be focused on his work and if he continued to look at my page he would get what he deserved. But instead of creating what could’ve been fun and interesting; I sat in class irritated, unable to think of other characters, objectives and the three words they would use.
I didn’t realize until I left class that the largest problem was that, I was worried about what someone else thought and this is something that I and many people do that keeps us from doing what we want and makes us happy. I clearly don’t condone hurting others to get what you want. I do think that we need to focus less on others and more on our own happiness. My classroom experience is a fairly minor example, but it took me too long to decide to start my company and pursue my dreams because I cared too heavily about how people would view me. That said, I will leave you with a quote that resonates just as much now as it did then: