
(aside from the coughing keeping me up at nights, that is)
...is that people always become whatever they focus on.
People in love become lovely. Even if the object of their affections is not so wonderful, when a person is focused on the wonderful qualities which they believe are embodied by the person they love, then they become better for it.
Anti-cult crusaders, when fighting the cult and its authoritarian trappings is the focus of their lives, have been known to become the most egregious cult leaders of all.
Among religious people who supposedly worship the same deity or follow the same path, it becomes obvious which ones focus on God's love and mercy, which ones focus on divine punishment of the infidel, and which ones are obsessive about the perversions of outsiders.
It is also obvious which people spend entirely too much time on "mock the stupid" and snark communities. Those people become altogether too subject to mockery and snark themselves without realizing it. (Not a reference to everyone on those communities, mind you. Just saying that you can tell which folks are obsessed because they become that which they claim to hate.)
The problem I am having at the moment (aside from the mucus-filled lungs which, sadly, do try to monopolize my thoughts right now)? I have been much too focused on the behaviors of incompetent, clueless, and/or generally unhelpful people lately. The urge is strong to find a friend with a flamethrower to deal with those people so I won't have to think about them anymore, but that option would probably not be the best. I do need to find a way to deal with things without focusing on the bad aspects, though. I have enough problems without attracting such unpleasant qualities to myself.
Reading through the Harry Potter books as I have been doing lately at least gives me something else to focus on for a while. Sadly, I do not think I will be able to focus quite enough to become a great Quidditch player any time soon. Maybe next lifetime.