They were having another of their little tiffs.
They were probably no different than most married couples. He was saying “Yes it does” and she was in the kitchen saying “No it doesn’t.”
He put down the newspaper and said “It’s that old glass-half-empty thing with you isn’t it?”
She came to the door and said “What do you mean?”
“Well, as a general rule you tend to take the half-empty look at things.”
She went to respond but he went on. “I am quite willing to admit that generally speaking I happily, and quite possibly blindly, go through life with a constant glass-half-full attitude. You, on the other hand my love, tend to be more cautious about playing down any possible pitfalls life may confront us with. In other words, you see things as glass-half-empty. I guess it’s all about your worldview really.”
“Worldview?”
“Sure, a person’s fundamental cognitive orientation: one that encompasses the entirety of an individual’s point of view.”
She peered around the door again and saw that he was holding his mobile phone. “You’re looking all this stuff up on your phone, aren’t you?”
“Of course! Anyway, that’s the way I see it.”
They both fell silent for a while. Whereas these subtle variations in how life was being looked at by each of them had never been a real problem, the conversation was definitely becoming more deep and meaningful on this occasion.
She shrugged her shoulders and returned to her cooking. After a few moments she called out “Going back to this glass-half-full thing; are you sure it’s as simple as comparing these two opposing points of view.”
He thought for a moment and said “You know, that’s the funny thing about this water-in-the-glass analogy, they’re not really opposites at all. I mean… to say that a glass is either half full or half empty is actually saying the same thing.”
She carried on stirring the pot. He picked up the paper, only to put it down again. “Well, you know, this all comes down to symbiosis.”
“Symbi what?”
“Symbiosis.”
“Go on.”
“Yes, symbiosis, the term commonly describes close and often long-term interactions between different biological species. It’s about organisms that live in a mutually beneficial and close association with each other. Like us, if you like.”
She appeared again, this time waving a spoon. “But that doesn’t really make sense when you think about it.”
“Why not?”
“Well, because saying two things, or organs, or peoples can be mutually beneficial and then comparing that with fact that glasses half full and half empty are the same just doesn’t gel somehow.”
“Yes it does.”
“No it doesn’t.”
“Yes it does.”
“No it doesn’t…”