Watching Strawberry on the Shortcake. It's a jap drama about a guy who loves his stepsister, but whom loves his classmate, whom in turn loves his english teacher. And the male lead has a girlfriend who loves him (very complicated love pentagon!). Was watching episode three when i came across the following conversation between his girlfriend and his stepsister. It's on possessivness.

Stepsister: For me, the feeling of wanting to be with him are stronger than the fear of being disliked.
Girlfriend: I guess I feel the other way 'cause I don't want to be disliked.
S: That means you don't really like him that much.
G: Eh?
S: That means you like yourself more than you like him.

I guess that makes sense. When one worries about being disliked, one is thinking more about oneself than about the one doing the disliking. Because when we talk about 'being disliked', the subject, and thus the point of focus, is the one who's being disliked. Thinking about 'being disliked' is thinking from the perspective of the one being disliked.

HOWEVER

If one persists in one's desire to be with someone in spite of their feelings of ire, then one is not thinking of the other's feelings as well. It also means that one is liking oneself more than the other party.

This got me thinking. People think of a scale as a straight line. Where the two extremes are as far from each other as can be. But a scale for measuring action ought not be the case. Instead, i think it should be thought of as U shaped. Because many a time, two extreme actions tend to stem from the same motivation, or give the same results. Thoughtless parental love can be the reason for spoiling a child, but it can also be the reason for abusive discipline. Being too lenient to a kid ruins him, but so does being overly strict. Being overly defensive about homosexuals leads to suspicion about a guy's sexual orientation, but so does overreacting to homosexuals in a negative way.

Actually, now that i think of it, this is the kind of philosophical theory that i used to hate. So-and-so concept shouldn't be thought of as a circle! It should be thought of as a square! I used to go, uhhh, SO? How does thinking of something as a square or circle do anything NEW for it?

Either my philosophical mindset is maturing, or i am tired from yesterday's jogging, lack of sleep, and today's events.