Saturday, September 6, 2008

Thanks for Telling Me?

I got the weirdest phone call the other day (okay, not the weirdest I've ever gotten, but still pretty strange).

The guy wants to know the definition of a narcissist. He says someone told him it means someone who thinks world events happen because of him. So I look it up in our dictionary (ooo, print source!) and read off the definition. It points to "egoist" too, so I read that definition as well. This seems to satisfy the guy and I think the conversation is over, but then he tells me he's a veteran who goes to the local VA hospital. His psychologist there told him something...and then he says he probably shouldn't say anything because he doesn't want to step on my toes. Well, okay, so he thanks me and hangs up.

Two hours later he calls back and asks if I was the one who gave him the definition of a narcissist. He tells me he doesn't want to step on my toes, but...and then he launches into a lengthy, circuitous speech in which he basically says his psychologist told him that Jesus was a narcissist. He never actually said it, never named Jesus, just skirted around it, but it was pretty obvious what he was trying to say. He didn't want to say it outright, because he knows people have their beliefs and that's okay, and he really doesn't want to step on my toes. That was all he wanted, and he thanked me again and hung up.