Thankful for Being an Ass

Today, I'm thankful for being an ass!

OK, but seriously.  I've had a couple of conversations recently, where the person I was talking to was very swayed by the opinions of others.  Which is very strange to me.

In one instance, the person had been told something that wasn't true - that they were a bad person.  When they were not a bad person and, from what I understand, had not done anything deserving of said accusation.  And my response was that, if that were me, I would have laughed at the person saying it.  Because I would see it for the absurdity that it is.  Sadly, the person it was said to took it to heart.

In another case, a person that I know was talking about how certain people that they have to work with look at her body, either with judgement or lust or some other unjustified opinion.  And I asked, "So what?  Why do you care?"

Now, don't get me wrong - we all have our issues and I'm not saying I'm better than those people because I wouldn't take the stupid accusation personally or because I wouldn't care if they looked at me a certain way.  I'm just saying that I don't get it.  My question is a real question.  Why do you care?

I'm pretty low on the empathy scale.  If you tell me about your sick mom, I'll listen because I'm fond of you and you could use someone to listen to you, but I'm probably not feeling anything for your mom.  And how that plays out in the world of caring what people think of me is that I generally don't.  Care, that is.  I mean, I'm affected by what my mother says, because she's my mom.  I'll listen to what friends say and try to process it and maybe, possibly, sometimes take it to heart.  But if you say something that's clearly untrue or look at me with undeserved judgement, I know that's more about you than me.  And it simply doesn't stick to me.

Sure, I could use more empathy.  I actually value it in others and wish I had more of it.  But I'm of two minds about it.  On one hand, I value empathy, but on the other I look at my lack and laugh.

But I do think it's good that God made some people who are less swayed by the emotions or stupidity of others.  And this morning in bed, as I thought about it, I thanked God for making me the way I am.  I'm a bit of an ass who can see through the shit.