Sometimes It's All About Me

If I may take just a moment of your time here to clarify something: This is my blog and it is all about me. In case you wondered, or thought maybe it was all about you, or politics or Donald Trump or Mahatma Gandhi. Nope, it's all about me. In fact, right here is the only place in the entire world where it's actually "all about me." I have no client to please, and reading this is optional so there's no audience to please; if someone reads it that's great, and if nobody reads it that's fine too. I read it, and I write it, and I like it, which is good enough for me, especially since it's free.

Illustration by Roz Chast

I say this because just today I was told by someone who had read one of my posts written a few weeks back about an experience I had that involved her, "It's not all about you," adding that it actually was all about her since the experience took place in her house. She got it wrong, since it's "all about me" for most of us, most of the time. We each have the starring role in our own life, a fact quite evident on Facebook when someone announces they are going on a trip. Ever notice the comments? Instead of "Have a great time," people write things like, "I had such fun when I was there," "Be sure to go to this fabulous restaurant I loved, "We go there every year," and more like that -- just in case you think you're something special. (You're not.)

So everyone's a star, surrounded by supporting players. For most of us our children have the lead roles when they are small and unable to care for themselves, but in the adult world it's about each one of us trying to be the best "Me" we can be, striving to live the best way we know how, and hopefully not hurting anyone else in the process.