What Did the Five Fingers Say to the Face?

And that's pretty much how I can sum up the past few days.

Let's cut down to the real idea here. Why would I care how anyone feels about me? Why should anyone care about how someone feels about them or views them?

The answer is - I don't have an answer. There's no real way to know whose ideas and perceptions you should value. All any of us can do is judge a person long enough to take your best-educated guess at whether they are the kind of person who is worthy of your respect. After that, we can start looking at whether they offer us something - even though we all know judging is wrong.

People influence me every day. I look at them for respectable characteristics until I find at least one - then I strive to emulate it in an effort to become a better person. This is a constant evolutionary process and one I learned just a few years ago. It's served me more than anything I've learned before as it is truly the key to more knowledge and growth.

After finding enough of these qualities in a person, I'm willing to forge more than a casual or acquainted relationship with them. Irony strikes me all the time as I find something or someone more respectable than I imagined I could. That makes me a better person - not better than anyone else, but better than I used to be.

Not everyone feels this way. And not everyone feels this way as long as I have. Many people share this theory with me, but stop at a certain point. A lot of them justify it as "growing up." I call it quitting. They call my lifestyle idealistic or immature.

Either way, being judged hurts. Like a clean slap to the face - especially one you didn't see coming.