The origins of nastiness in other people can be deeply hard to fathom, especially if we have done nothing to them. The answer is strangely and consolingly simple…
It happens pretty much all the time: a small jabbing comment, a joke at our expense amidst a group of old friends, a line of sarcasm, a sneering assessment, a provocative comment on the internet.
These things hurt a lot – more than we’re ever allowed to admit. In the privacy of our minds, we search for explanations, but anything satisfying and soothing is usually hard to come by. We’re just left to puzzle at the casual inhumanity that circulates all around us – and suspect that perhaps it’s we who are, somewhere deep down, to blame for falling victim to it.