On Discovering Echoes explained (sort of!)

Sometimes when people reach out to comfort us, it's not because of our pain, 
but because of theirs.

But people in pain tend to push away others; those who feel hurt inflict it in turn. 
Perhaps this one really belongs in "Human Nature." But I put it here because all 
of these scenes actually happened (though with more than one person), and 
they did so during my very first Live Action Role Playing game, in which I was 
cast as a nutcase.

Being the absorbing person I am, I became a nutcase for a weekend. Some 
other people had similar problems with their characters taking over- and some 
of them had other problems. I tried to take care of three people that weekend, 
of which one told me to go to hell, one smiled sadly, talked a bit, and wandered 
off no more happy than before, and one accepted a hug and ran off to try her 
own method of depression-relief.

And I went home.


Note: "El Shadai" is a song by Amy Grant. It's quiet and soulful, and on any normal 
day, I love it. But sometimes it makes me sad.

Note 2: Anyone who thinks the color yellow is happy has not read any psych color 
studies. Or has not looked around them. Yellow is the color of fear and madness, 
among other things. Don't believe me? Read the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper."