I've been convicted

Here is one of the reasons why I read. Why I think stories have at least as much to teach us as lectures . . . probably more.

I'm about half way through Richard Russo's Empire falls, and the main character Miles just had a heart-to-heart with Jimmy Minty. Jimmy Minty is that socially awkward, but not shy person. So he has spent his life butting into Miles's life, and Miles has been giving him the cold shoulder for years. In this scene Jimmy unloads on Miles and ends with this line (or something like this line, I don't have the book in front of me) "What have I ever done but want to be your friend?"

And that's what convicted me. I am the king of the cold shoulder (and, I'm embarrassed to admit this, for the last couple of years I've considered this a good technique. I used to be a full-blown A$$ to people I considered weird).

There are a lot of clingy, socially awkward people who have wanted nothing more than to be my friend. I've rebuffed them because they told jokes I consider tasteless or maybe they talk about beer in a way that I think makes them look stupid. But what they are really doing is just trying to connect, and I am quick to shut them down.

Now, I'm not ready to go out of my way to call all them and start making lunch dates, but I think I'll be able to handle them better when our paths cross.

Stories, unlike lectures, help us see ourselves in other characters, live their mistakes, and hopefully learn from them.