For All Those Social Nincompoops Out There

I include myself in that grouping. I was conversing with a friend a while back on what it means to be socially inept, and there seem to be two varieties of this out there: one is the sort who is just boring and dull and doesn't know when to leave (I'm looking at YOU, Tall, Dark, and Hackneyed!) while the other is just plain prickly and says whatever is on his mind, regardless of who overhears it. My own social ineptitude is probably this latter category. For instance, I once told someone that if their life was so horrid, they should just kill themselves and be done with it. While tasteless, this was of course all in jest. I think part of this is that I don't really "get" the whole emotions business. Every time I have given in to my emotions, they've hurt me, so consequently I bury them. As a result, emotions hold little sway in any of my thought processes. When I make a decision, I'm not really thinking about how other people will feel about it. Oh, it matters to me whether others will be harmed or not, but I am less concerned with their emotions on the matter. That may be why I say some of the stupid things for which I am so famous. I realize that for some of my readers, this may be unexpected introspection on my part, to which I say, deal with it. This is my blog, so I can say whatever I damned well please. It may be that I will become a kinder, gentler version of my current self, but who cares? I wouldn't be the first person to tone it down with age.