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Maybe I’m more considerate than average to people I’ve known throughout my life, but being rejected is not normal for me. The frequency to which the author was
by plank_time 5y ago
Maybe I’m more considerate than average to people I’ve known throughout my life, but being rejected is not normal for me. The frequency to which the author was rejected by people seems to indicate there’s a problem with him, not society. Of course it has happened, but we are talking about ex-girlfriends or people I’ve had legitimate fights with.
But I still have friends from every stage of my life. I have a group of friends that I’ve known since grade 1 and we WhatsApp every day. We get into salty verbal arguments all the time like brothers, but we never have coke close to rejecting each other. During the pandemic I’ve had friends from high school that I haven’t spoken with for 30+ years that sought me out and we talked on the phone for 2 hours. In the last few weeks I had a coworker from 20 years ago reach out to me because she heard I “retired” pre-pandemic and wanted my advice on if she should do it. We chatted for over an hour. During the pandemic I’ve pinged several friends/coworkers from various companies I’ve worked with just to say hi. I’m planning on going for lunch with another coworker from 20 years ago in the next few weeks. I’ve even made new friends during the pandemic, having met someone that shared my same cynical views on the Federal Reserve, the stock market, etc.
It’s not hard to maintain friendships with people, just be considerate and courteous! Not everyone needs to be your best friend, but you also don’t need to be so navel gazing that all you care about is yourself.
The fact that the author has so many people rejecting the author makes me think he’s simply not a good friend and deserves to be rejected.
- shkkmo 5y agoSocial skills are not equally easy for everyone. > makes me think he’s simply not a good friend and deserves to be rejected. You sound like maybe a bit more rejection would have been good for your sense of empathy.
- plank_time 5y agoEmpathy doesn’t mean saying “everything you do is okay.” Thats called enabling their behavior. It sometimes means having to say the honest, hard things in hopes that people will change their behavior for the better. It’s fairly obvious that the author has a hard time maintaining friendships. To blame that on society today and social media is wrong.
- shkkmo 5y agoSaying "has some things to improve on" is very different from saying "deserves to be rejected". In the article, the author reached out for feedback on what happened and the person didn't choose to say any "honest hard things." I absolutely think it is fair to blame society today for treating people who face social challenges with contempt and scorn. However, I disagree that there is any obvious evidence that this author has a hard time maintaining friendships.