[Elspode]

About 30 odd years ago, I had an old girlfriend tell me that I was an ass...hurtful, arrogant, egotistical, self-centered and generally a jerk. However, she told me all of this with love and friendship. She gave me specific examples of my behavior that had been hurtful to others, including herself, and never once got angry or vengeful about it.

I took it deeply to heart. She was and is a person whom I care for and respect, intelligent and generally wonderful in most every way. I have spent the subsequent years trying very, very hard to feel and subsequently project humility, consideration and respect. I hope that I have, in some measure, succeeded.

Of all the debts I owe to a person in my life, this is perhaps the most important, because her kindness on that day probably has saved me from a life of complete loneliness and emptiness.