It's certainly the case that conflicts will be difficult to resolve if one or both parties are not reasonable! Your comment also touches on something else, how

It's certainly the case that conflicts will be difficult to resolve if one or both parties are not reasonable! Your comment also touches on something else, however, in terms of how you and your roommate discussed issues, and relates back to an earlier point about internal/external issues. It's easy not to care when, well, you don't care---when you haven't invested yourself mentally, emotionally, and physically in a relationship and hence do not really expect or require reciprocity to indicate that your investment was not in vain and that your relationship will endure. In other words, it's hard not to care when you really do care---about the other person, about how the other person treats you, about the relationship. As a side point, there's a big difference between not dreading coming home and looking forward to coming home. The latter is an uncommon way to describe just a rooming situation, but should be the case with people in a relationship. Your point stands, of course, about words and particularly actions being powerful!