Epiphany

I think I've discovered why I'm having a problem in the Monday Night game.

I was reading my interpersonal communication book, and I read a passage about the four elements of relational messages in communication.

The first is affinity, basically, how much you like or dislike the other person you are communicating with.

Second, is immediacy, the degree of interest and attention we feel towards the communication.

I'll get to the third in a bit, but the fourth is Control, which is a measure of the degree of power each person in the relationship has over the other.

Now, when it comes to these three, I think there's proper balance. I like all the guys well enough, and the interest is there, and as a group, we pretty much equally share the power (though my leaving after the discovery of the wagon was a way of me exerting control, I admit). It's the third element that I think is lacking.

The third element, and the one I believe is crucial in my continued enjoyment of the game, is respect, the degree of esteem you have for the other communicator. That's the element I think is a bit one sided in the game. I respect most of the guys a lot, though one or two I have a problem with, but I don't know if they respect me. I don't think they hold my ideas with the same weight they would others, like my mother or father. I know I'm younger then all of them, heck, at least three of the players are old enough to be my parents (two of them are, one of them is obviously not).

I don't know how to cultivate this respect, but I hope that it can develop more, or I might not want to play anymore. Like I didn't want to judge. It's about respect.

Well, back to work, I've got class in forty minutes.