Rant: Do I Impress You?

I was reading a friend's Facebook today in which he mentioned -under the "info" section" - that he is actually impressed by very few people. He also conditioned that statement by the preceding, "As harsh as it may sound...", showing his understanding of yes, it is a very harsh statement.

This is someone who I have the utmost respect for - someone who, on multiple occasions, I ( as well as many others) have stated as being one of the most sincere and nicest guys you could ever know. In other words, this is someone who impresses me immensely. I hope he takes my interpretation of his statement in the same manner I do. If he does, he truly "impresses" me.

Yes, I do think there are a lot...for lack of a better term, unimpressive people out there. There are a lot of rude, inconsiderate, and even selfish people. But really? Have you been so jaded to define the population by an arbitrary rubric of "impressive"?

I get it. The talented ones, right? The ones that hold an aura of mystique, of sheer brilliance. The ones who could hold the world in their hands, blow it away, and have it float back to them when beckoned. These are the Impressives. The Elites. The ones who are accountable for holding a standard by which everyone else is judged. And the cherry on top: they know it too.

I'm not impressed by those people. Their brilliance feigns ignorance. It breeds prejudice and releases the toxicity of rash judgment. A type of judgment that we all fall into on occasion, but no, this is different. This is a constant and consistent judgment of the character and actions of others without understanding circumstance.

You know who I'm impressed by? The ones who can smile after a really shitty day. The ones who ask "How was your day?" and genuinely, genuinely mean it. Cause dammit, those people are hard to find. The ones who will apologize for what they did wrong because they accept it. Because hell, they might not even be wrong. But they'll apologize for hurting someone's feelings. It's this lack of sensitivity that kills me, this lack of care and consideration for others.

What I mean to say is that "No, there is no one perfect". Truly no one. Just as there is no perfect movie, no perfect piece of art, no perfect novel. We all have our faults and perhaps, some more than others. But there are so many people out there who I appreciate and am impressed by.