Jackie Gingrich Cushman over at Townhall reports on a study from the University of Toronto which concludes that readers of fiction develop betters social skills than readers of nonfiction, because they learn vicariously about the results of various kinds of human interaction.
Funny, it never worked for me. But then my tombstone will say, “Here lies an outlier.” In fact, they’ll probably bury me across the street from the cemetery, so I can outlie some more.
It’s an interesting theory in any case.
You’re very nice here. Do you think you’re less polite in person?
Anyway, it might still help you. You wrote somewhere that you’d be a far worse person if you were not a Christian. This could work the same way.
Ori, you probably haven’t been hanging out here long enough to know that I suffer from a diagnosed emotional disorder called Avoidant Personality Disorder. This is an affliction best described as “shyness on stilts.”
In social situations, people interpret my unsmilingness as hostility, my lack of eye contact as dishonesty, and my silence as rejection. In short, I’m not much fun at parties.
Sometimes, studies just make me shake my head.
Sorry to read that. Do you want me to pray for you, and if so what’s your mother’s name?
In Judaism one normally refers to a person as “X son/daughter of “. The exception is when praying for health. It’s important enough that we want to be 100% sure we have it right – so we pray for “X son/daughter of “.
Oops – I used brackets where I shouldn’t. I meant you would normally say “Isaac son of Abraham”, but when praying for healing you would say “Isaac son of Sarah”.
Thank you. I’ll reply privately.