It takes two to have a conflict? Not always. Sometimes, it just takes one vivid imaginationโ€ฆ and a forged signature.

I was rewatching the mythical ๐˜“๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜›๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด. I have seen it a couple of times, to say the leastโ€ฆ

Yet this time, the birthday scene struck me differently.

It occurred to me it is a textbook example of how we manufacture our own reality:

  • ๐–๐š๐ญ๐ณ๐ฅ๐š๐ฐ๐ข๐œ๐คโ€™๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ, scripted ๐˜ขฬ€ ๐˜ญ๐˜ข ๐˜ˆ๐˜ถ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ.
  • ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐€๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ ๐‹๐š๐๐๐ž๐ซ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ˆ๐ง๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐žโ€ฆ distilled in pastis and gunpowder.

Fernand (Lino Ventura) receives a bomb with a forged signature from his associate. He immediately climbs the ladder: he interprets, assumes, concludesโ€ฆ and cracโ€ฆ โ€œun bourre-pif en pleine pรฉriode de paix.โ€ ๐Ÿ’ฅ

Raoul (Bernard Blier), ambushed and punched for a grievance that existed only in Fernandโ€™s mind, retaliates just as fiercely: โ€œJe dynamiteโ€ฆ je disperseโ€ฆ je ventileโ€ฆ faรงon puzzle.โ€ ๐Ÿงจ

A perfect reminder that many conflicts are not born between two people, but inside one personโ€™s mind.

Before you react, ask yourself: ๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ?

(First encountered in a Management Praxis lecture, with Keith Goodall and Sanna Balsari-Palsule, whose lessons still resonate.)