For many years, I bemoaned to my mother about being like Cassandra - able to see what would happen, but cursed to never be able to convince anyone of it. In Greek mythology, it was Cassandra who warned her fellow Trojans, "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts," only to have them accept the gigantic wooded horse that spelled their doom. She was seen seen as a liar, even a madwoman. by her family. Yeah, I can relate to that.
Mind you, whenever I'd be so bold as to suggest this or that action might lead to unexpected consequences or a downright nasty end, Mom would inevitably say, "Well, you're usually right, but THIS time..." - seriously, exactly those words - before doing the very thing I'd warned against. Of course, afterward she cop to, "Gee, I guess you were right... Always after, never at a time when it might have mattered. So predictable, it became a family joke. Hey, what else could you do but laugh?
Trust me - there is no blessing in being able to see that taking a certain path will bring pain & sorry if you're unable to convince anyone to take a different route.
How I came by this should-be-awesome, actually flat-out irksome trait is beyond me. Seems it's been part of my personal skills tool kit since forever. And it doesn't do me any good. In things that matter re: my best interest, am way more Cher Horowitz that Cassandra - basically clueless.
My Cassandra curse continues. Recently advised the family of a client against doing an action on which they were dead set - to me (aka Cassandra), the potential consequences were a) dire and b) pretty predictable. Didn't come across that way to them. They stuck with their game plan. Everything worked great - well, everything went efficiently, as planned. Effectively? My guess is the long-term results will be as sad as they were avoidable.
The Fates gifted me with the power of putting two & two together & coming up with - to me - the obvious four. If only they'd equally gifted me with the power of persuasion. Alas, here I am, at 63, with people still saying, "I know you're usually right, but in this case..." followed soon after by "Gee, guess you nailed it. Oops."
There's no great power in being able to figure out what's what when others are heavily invested in staying forever clueless.
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