Speak To Me of Your Most Irrationally Confident Belief
The Friday Newsletter could definitely land a commercial airplane. ALSO: soup, overly-complex cocktails, cinematically-soulful music, and one damned good book.
Every few months, it happens—some survey goes viral and proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that a portion of the population is utterly delusional about its own abilities.
12% of British men believe that they could score a point in a tennis match against Serena Williams!
6% of American men believe that they could win a fight against a grizzly bear!
The average person believes they could survive two weeks alone in the wilderness!
These beliefs are, of course, preposterous. The average person could not build a fire, let alone survive alone in the wilderness for weeks. Most people would lose a fight against a sufficiently-motivated Canada geese, and there isn’t a human alive who could win against a grizzly bear. Also, Serena Williams would leave any mortal person with a hole through their body, Looney Tunes-style.
I know these things to be true.
That doesn’t mean I’m not delusional too, though.
No matter how rational we might consider ourselves to be, each of us harbors at least one deep-seated belief about our capability to do something that absolutely does not align with reality.
Me? I bet I could land a commercial airplane.
I’m not quite sure what scenario might lead to this—some in-flight calamity disables both pilots, and a member of the flight crew calls out “is there a pilot on board, or, barring that, an architect who writes weird fiction and shares recipes?”
I’m prepared if that moment ever does arise, though.
Sure, I’ve never flown a plane, and I know basically nothing of the technology of modern aviation. I have steady hands, though, and I’m calm in high-adrenaline situations (really, that’s about the only time I’m calm). I also follow instructions well, and in this scenario I’m assuming that there’s some Robert Stack-like air traffic controller on the ground feeding me instructions.
I believe I could do it.
Is this a rational belief? Of course not! But it’s one that I’ll hold on to until I’m definitively proven wrong. I definitely have a better chance of landing a 787 than I do scoring a point off Serena, that’s for damn sure.
(Besides, if I ever get the chance and I can’t do it, well, I won’t be around for the I-told-you-so anyway.)
Friends, it’s Friday again at The Action Cookbook Newsletter.
I want to hear what your most irrationally confident belief is.
While you mull that over, I’ve got the usual jam-packed ACBN Friday slate of things guaranteed to improve your weekend ahead. Today, that includes an easy weeknight soup, an unnecessarily complex cocktail, music for after a heist, a remarkable coming-of-age novel, and much more!
The week’s almost over. Let’s land this plane.
We’ll start out simple.
I’m always grateful for suggestions from readers, and a little while ago, I got a recipe recommendation from longtime reader Brad Wilgus—I should make Caldo Verde. The classic Portuguese green soup comes together quickly enough to be a weeknight meal, and with leafy greens, potatoes, onions and a little bit of sausage, it’s the perfect hearty dinner for this frigid time of year.