A man of letters once said: There are three realms in life. The first realm is "Last night, the western wind withered the tree, I alone ascended the west tower and gazed at the endless road to the horizon". The second realm is "Even if my belt becomes gradually wider, I will not regret it, for her, I will let myself become emaciated", and the third realm is "After searching for her a thousand times among the multitude, suddenly I look back, and there she stands, in the dim light under the lanterns".
Likewise, showing off also has these three realms.
The first level of the realm, "Last night, the western wind withered the tree, I alone ascended the west tower and gazed at the endless road to the horizon." In this realm of showing off, the person needs to exhibit sophistication and uniqueness in form. "The western wind withering the tree" explains that both of them had feelings of restlessness and unease before truly starting to show off, and they have not yet entered the truly high-level realm of showing off.
The second level of the realm, "Even if my belt becomes gradually wider, I will not regret it, for her, I will let myself become emaciated." In this realm of showing off, both individuals have completely entered the state, where showing off must be done with sincere consideration for the other party, without any selfish thoughts. The person showing off must use a spirit of dedication, stubbornness, and unwavering determination to try to persuade the other.
The highest realm of showing off, which is the third level, "After searching for her a thousand times among the multitude, suddenly I look back, and there she stands, in the dim light under the lanterns." In this realm of showing off, the person must express their inner thoughts clearly using the simplest and most direct language. Of course, the prerequisite is that the person showing off must believe they have the ability to achieve what they themselves cannot actually do. Therefore, this level is very difficult.
Experts are always lonely. How many people can understand the loneliness in the heart of an undefeated master?
This can only be truly understood by those who have truly reached the peak.
Specific manifestations of showing off appear in three aspects: dialogue, diet, and hobbies.
1. Conversations must be interspersed with English. Removing the English words from these conversations, one would basically no longer be able to understand the content being explained in Chinese.
For example: "Alex, I actually appreciate your actions, I don't want to overly influence you about this matter, but you must have your own insight." Being exposed to such conversations every day, over time, you also become like this, so you're not considered as showing off, you're just being forced into it.
2. Absolutely refusing to eat fast food like KFC, instead eating Vietnamese or Thai cuisine, etc. Even if Starbucks coffee tastes good, they won't drink it; they must grind their own coffee beans.
People like me, who buy a two-yuan egg pancake on the street every morning and eat an eight-yuan fast food lunch, are definitely objects of ridicule. There's nothing I can do, I just like eating this way.
3. Enjoying watching movies that are incomprehensible and doing sports that even they themselves don't enjoy.
Defining this kind of showing-off behavior as bourgeois, believing it to be a kind of taste. When showing off becomes habitual, it turns into style.
Showing-off offenders are everywhere, but few reach the pinnacle.