Maybe you’re not rude after all
Most of our politeness rules are bullshit.
A teacher sent me home for showing my underwear in fifth grade. The same year, I also got in trouble for asking a classmate about their gender identity. Stuff like that was always happening. I always managed to break some invisible rule out of social blindness.
Most of my teachers couldn’t stand me. During class, I raised questions about “inappropriate” topics like suicide and sexual assault.
They ignored me. Called me out in the hallway for discussions about my behavior. Gave me demerits. Detention. Suspensions.
I was a real trouble maker. So rude. Why couldn’t I just be polite, like everyone else?
You’d think I would’ve learned my lesson. But I didn’t. In my 20s, I kept making the same mistakes. Voicing my opinion in the middle of polite conversation. I could never make small talk, just big talk.
At this one cookout, a bunch of us college freshmen were talking about religion. Some people said they were Catholic. Protestant. Presbyterian. Baptist. So I volunteered that I was an atheist. That pretty much killed the room. Oh, the daggers in their eyes. How rude of me.
Initiate Operation Ostracize.
