Ouch!

Dear You,

I read once that there is no such thing as a peripherally located ego -- each person, then, is egocentric. This is especially true in our beginnings. Indeed, I consider it a mark of adulthood when one starts to understand that he (or she) is not in fact the center of the universe.

It distresses me to encounter someone over the age of 30, say, who has not yet made such a transformation. A young woman of my acquaintance wears me out with her narcissism. This woman surely has difficulties -- don't we all? Her conversation rarely turns to the listener, who must patiently bear with the litany of her illness until he escapes. How refreshing, then, to talk with one who is sensitive to the world at large.

And it seems to me now that when one is so firmly fixated on the self, every pain -- every inconvenience -- every bump in the road becomes magnified. When someone is attuned to the sufferings of others it is easier to put his own into perspective.