Reaction

So how do people react when they see you. As a young man, I remember being particularly impressed with the Dylan lyrics from Positively 4th Street, “I wish that for just one time / you could stand inside my shoes / and just for that one moment / I could be you. / Yes, I wish that for just one time / You could stand inside my shoes / You'd know what a drag it is / to see you.”

My thought was, whoa, I never want anyone to say that about me. As I grow older I don't care as much what people think about me in terms of earning their approval, but at the same time, I don't want to become such a pain-in-the-ass that people dread to see me coming. Some kind of balance has to be maintained that allows living with integrity without at the same time alienating others. Some years ago, I was made (for a grade) to memorize these lines by Robert Ingersol:

Happiness is the only good.
The time to be happy is now.
The place to be happy is here.
The way to be happy is to make others so.

It's something to think about. . .