#2

Entry after entry was filled with a detailed commentary on his peers and their interaction. He was reclusive justice at its finest. An hour, two hours, even three passed before he realized that he had spent his afternoon wandering the cumbersome labyrinth of social perception and diagnosis.

As talented as he was, or at least thought himself to be, the young man felt most awkward in his own palpably tense skin. “A proverbial matter” was his most common response to this unfortunate self-awareness. Yet this lackluster response always ached and rattled around his ‘universal understanding.’

The question whose answer eluded him most, however, was whether he was responsible for what had happened or even what ought to happen. How obligated should he feel to both determine his role, and follow thru with that responsibility? Again, these questions were sheltered from serious consideration under the simple “too cliché” defense. "Instinct," he admonished, "has a manner of self-preservation that makes the curious mind immediately uneasy."