It’s a cruel world out there, people!

Last week, while having a beer with some colleagues, I got this message from an old friend of mine: “I can’t stand it anymore. Please don’t cry.” How could you react to such news, especially when you know that the other is quite crazy and capable of a lot of things? I started calling him, sending messages, no answer, no reply. Finally, after 1 hour of shaking like a Brazilian at the North Pole, he calls:”Oh, it was nothing important, just a joke.”

And I started thinking about all the silly things that I and my friends have done, those acts that nobody expects. Is the need of attention that makes us so crazy sometimes? Do we need the others to confirm that we exist? We are all single trees in different woods. If we fall and nobody is there to see, does it mean that it didn’t happen? When something amazing happens, we all feel the need to share it, that is graspable, but what if we begin to do stupid things only for the others to notice us? In this case, which is the limit between normal and abnormal?

Freud may say that craving attention is the result of not being able to sleep with your parents, but, all jokes aside, it represents an issue which affects your social life in a way you may not be able to control at some point.

One way to recognize these people consists in their tiresome, never-ending stories. No matter what you try to say, a noisy voice keeps bugging and interrupting. There is nothing more fascinating than what they have heard, smelled, tasted, done or lived. And of course, if they can do that while standing on the chair or a table, preferably in the centre of the room, for sure they won’t miss this opportunity.

All and all, the funny thing is that, after jiggling and wiggling around, one becomes even more annoying than he has while standing in the corner. So, next time you encounter one of these characters, please be so kind to let them now that we are aware of their suffering. And that there is no need to make us suffer as well.