dartboard

I don't know why some people are built with softer skin than others. And the easier a target you are, the more darts you attract. (Or is it only a skewed perception? Yet it's gone on too long and too intense for it to pass for a coincidence or incorrect vision. Maybe it's group think, or whatever it is that makes people jump on the bandwagon).

In any case, there's something confusing about what's going on here. These people are not my enemies. They care. Or at least, I think they do. So I justify it in all sorts of ways...and they do too, mostly with the claim of a lack of intention to harm. They don't think it's anything bad, so it's not. Right?

How do I make people realize it's not all about their own view? That what they thought was painless actually prickles deeper than I care to even admit to myself? How do I make myself realize it's also not all about my own view? To what degree can I--as I've been so often told to do--"get over it?" How do I bring these things up without sounding immature or demanding or egocentric? Is it too much to ask? Is it necessary to even have to?

The darts have landed now, (but only for now), yet I'm still wriggling them out, a little pang each by each, every pluck even, fair, and merciless.

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