Honestly, there are few things in life more comforting that our dislike for certain people. If you're a Boston Red Sox fan, you really have a case-on for Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez. If you don't live in the city of Miami, Lebron James makes your teeth hurt. Should you live in the Northeast, most guitar playing, cowboy hat wearing, country singers make you run screaming into the night. Certain people at your job make you want to throttle them until they vow to stop doing the things that make you crazy. There's a twisted pleasure derived from knowing that there are certain people you just plain don't like. (Note, I have avoided using the word hate. Hate is way too strong. It's difficult to imagine actually hating anyone you don't know intimately Insert ex-spouse's name here).
Conversely, it is genuinely frustrating to wrap yourself in the enmity you hold for someone else only to discover that the object of your negative feelings is capable of an unselfish act that forces a complete revaluation of your animosity. I mean what could be more frustrating than to learn that Karl Rove spends all his off hours (when he isn't destroying civilization as we know it) working with Ally Cat Allies? Or discovering that Snooki from Jersey Shore (just typing the name gives me agita) actually teaches molecular biology to blind graduate students at Rutgers? Information like that can bend your entire outlook. Hell, if you can't be sure of your negative opinions about people, what can you believe in?
Naturally, all of this reflection stems from an incident that transpired last week. A person who I hold in high esteem had a death in the family. The services were held in a part of the country which made attendance all but impossible. In subsequent discussion, I learned that the funeral was attended by a mutual acquaintance who I have held in low esteem. This fellow held a position which allowed him to make my life, and the lives of all of my colleagues, consistently miserable. His joy at spreading ill humor made a delightful environment, hell on earth. As you can imagine, his demise was greeted with universal happiness and derision. Now this person has committed the ultimate treacherous act; he has done something selfless and praiseworthy. Of all the snaky tricks.
I now find myself in limbo. I can't think of him the way I use to, disagreeable and unreasonable. That would be uncharitable to someone who did something magnanimous. Still, it is impossible to reverse years of rancour over one gesture. This sucks.
I've decided (like you care) to assume that I have been wrong lo these many years. Perhaps the good side was always there and I just wasn't in a position to see it. Sometimes good people aren't afforded the luxury of acting good. Maybe there was always a silver lining hidden under that fat, obnoxious cloud. So now the slate is clean. In the unlikely event that I should encounter this fellow, I will greet him as a long lost friend. I'll offer to buy coffee or a libation. We'll hash over old times and, if time and geography permit, we'll catch one of Skooki's lectures at dear ole Rutgers.
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