Friday, February 22, 2008

"I" Disease

When I was small- my step dad frequently would ridicule me for using the word "I" too much. Over the years, because of this ridicule, "I" (for better or worse) have in turned used this nugget to judge how self centered people are. In general- there are levels of self centeredness- typically, people who cant or wont pronounce others names properly upon meeting them are put in the lowest rung of general awareness of anyone but themselves. (My name is quite different- so frequently I'll use this as a "listening test" to see if people are even listening.) If I say "Hi, I'm Amydell" and you return a quick "hi, Amy, I'm so & so"- its pretty obvious you're more interested in telling me your name than getting mine right! 2nd on the tiers of self centeredness are women who latch on and refuse to be good friends- or that have no idea what it means to be a good friend. Recently I received an email from someone we considered a friend for a while and every sentence in the email began with "I"-- She is a person my old dad would have diagnosed with chronic "I" disease! What to do about it? Move away from it. There's nothing to gain from being friends with her. Although, I do feel sorry for her!