Testing for Genuine Awfulness

Do you have someone awful in your life? Someone you're forced to deal with, to your pained displeasure, certain that nothing good can ever come from them?

If you do, does it compound your pain and displeasure to worry that maybe this person isn't so awful, but that you've let your irritation get the best of you? Hey, nobody's all bad, right? "Shades of grey" and all that!

In fact, maybe you are the awful one, for having given up on this person! If you consider a fellow human "awful", that's downright dehumanizing, no? Perhaps you should add "shame" to your feeling of pain and displeasure!

This calls for a test! And here it is: Does the person still disappoint you?

If so, then you're not underrating. On the contrary, you're overrating. So don't sweat it.

The day an awful person stops disappointing you is the day you need to start questioning your assessment.


Here, fwiw, is the test for hatred.