The Manners I Taught Myself

There is a certain charm in living an unapologetic way. You say what you mean. To whomsoever you find worthy of your time. You talk to people you like. You tell them when you like them. You don't care about opinions from people who don't matter to you. For a long period I lived this way. I never thought about morality. The right and the wrong. The good and the bad. I did what I thought was right. For me, morality was always about the person in question. If I loved someone, the moral thing was to make them happy. If I disliked a person, I wouldn't bother with kindness. I wasn't rude either, but I couldn't be bothered to put in the effort. I struggled with the idea of love for a long time. I grew up without one. I thought there is no such thing as unconditional love. I still believe that to some degree. So I always thought I would never be loved. If I knew I would never be loved, why bother being anything you are not. Why bother tolerating people you do not like. You become a different…