English Blog Entry #4

As I devour more and more pages of the novel I'm currently indulging in,
"The No ***hole Rule"; I find myself wondering more and more about just one simple question. This question, the author tries to answer, and yet there is no general answer that applies to every single case.

What compels and causes people to be just plain old jerks? In the work force, at school, at home, anywhere and everywhere. No, I would not like a cliché answer of 'Because they have a low self esteem,' hahaha. The only reason why I say that, is not to be a smart alec, but because I know plenty of people who have low self esteems. These people with low self esteems never act out or take their emotions out on someone else, they take it out on themselves instead. No one else ever notices them doing this either. No, I'm not saying taking your anger//grief//negative emotions out on yourself is necessarily the best thing to do; the people that I know who could be jerks, choose to show dislike to themselves instead however. No one else ever gets a glimpse of this dislike and abuse. Do the jerks just not know how to cope with their emotions? And hey, maybe they were never even taught the 'Count to ten, and take deep breaths.' rule as a little kid, which actually works.

What are the other reasons that someone may be a big jerk? The only other reason why I’ve ever seen someone act out, was because of boredom. Whenever I was home alone with Rick before he left for college, and he picked on me, I’d angrily ask,
“What the **** have I done to you? Do I deserve this?”
And I’d get the simple nonchalant response of,
“Nothing! I’m just bored.”
In my brother’s case, being a big jerk is just his sign that he’s not fully mature yet. And if this is the same case for adults, so be it. There will always be immature people, and not immature in the good way. Not people who enjoy ‘their inner child.’

Either way, actions really do speak so much louder than words. That seems to be a prevailing theme in “The No ***hole Rule”. That's also the one thing that I've learned from Mrs. Buckley. Actually, I was taught that idea from a poster she has on her wall. Whatever works.