We Should See Other Blogs

It’s easy to be a misantropist at a distance.

What I don’t mean is it’s easy to dislike certain people; instead, I mean it’s easier to dislike humanity in general if you don’t let them too close. Yes, I’m something of an authority on this, as I tend to dislike humanity in general quite a bit: the result of most human action is pure, unadulterated stupidity showered with a light sprinkling of times that are very fortunately not so.

But when you’re forced right into the face of humanity, into the separate lives of human beings as individuals, almost everyone has a complex story that fleshes out your experience with them. Especially when you’ve only had the first blush of contact.

That guy who cut you off in traffic? Think about his story. Maybe he’s an asshole, or maybe he’s had a frustrating morning with a wife who no longer acts like she loves him. Maybe his son died yesterday. Maybe his personality has been warped by a childhood of constant abuse.

I’m not trying to be melodramatic; I’m also not really saying anything terribly insightful. And in the end I’m writing this mostly to myself: it’s easy to dislike the people arms-length or farther. You can’t feel sympathy for someone you view only as an object.