I am a mad Seinfeld fan. I reckon I have watched every episode at least 30 times, which infuriates old mate that I live with as she thinks it’s dribble.
My standard response is that it is about people and their insecurities, which is something I deal with on a daily basis.
Well until recently, that is what I always believed to be the reason I loved watching the show – it is about people.
Then the other day I had a light-bulb moment and realised there may be something else that attracts me to Seinfeld – Cosmo Kramer.
This character (who basically plays a role about nothing) and I have one major similarity, and it’s not our looks. Old mate wishes I looked like him, but sadly that’s not the case. Kramer is more than six-foot tall with a full head of hair and is quite lean, probably the polar opposite to me.
Our similarities are our personalities – brutal, opinionated honesty. If someone gets a bad haircut and asks Cosmo what he thinks of it he tells them the truth.
I came to this realisation when a good mate of mine told me that I had offended someone he knew. It was someone I had only met briefly, and I was horrified to learn I had upset this person.
On reflection I could have handled the conversation I had with this bloke better. He was telling me he was great mates with this guy that we knew. He was telling me how successful and popular this guy was, and then proceeded to ask my opinion of the mutual acquaintance.
Cosmo Kramer kicked in and I said, “Yeah I like him. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, but he is okay”.
I had not considered that I was possibly talking to the captain of his fan club and, although I had good reasons for my opinion, I should have kept it to myself.
It raised another interesting point for me to ponder: I like plenty of people I don’t trust. I just make sure I don’t do business with them. If on occasion I do, I double-check everything. Like and trust are so different – a notion that is clear to me, but obviously not to some people.
Take me for instance.
Like? Well I don’t really like myself. Trust? I certainly can’t trust myself to keep my mouth shut.
