Fourteen reasons someone would want me:
1. I really mean it when I ask people how they're doing, and I want to hear if they've had a bad day.
2. Even if the honest truth hurts my fragile ego, I want to hear it, but I won't hold it against anyone.
3. I have a good verbal memory, and if I was listening at the time, I can remember exactly what was said by whom. I recall the obscurest comments about likes and dislikes, and I can pick up a conversation exactly where it left off two hours later.
4. If someone names something they like, I'll be sure to try it for myself (if it doesn't conflict with my core values) so I can appreciate their opinion.
5. I honor others' values, even if I disagree with them, and especially when it's relevant to #4. If someone recommends a song but they don't like downloading music, I may go out and buy the CD.
6. I want people to feel comfortable. I smile and compliment them in German or Spanish so they'll know they're worth more than the ordinary "You look nice."
7. I do the polite and charitable thing even when I know I'm being exploited.
8. I generally try to treat everyone with kindness because I know from my training in psychology that doing so will increase my affections for them. Works complete faith, after all.
9. I have a literary mind, though I've only ever met one lit teacher I liked. I memorize poetry and historical factoids so I can allude to them at an appropriate moment.
10. I want to read anybody's poetry, no matter how sappy it is. I want to see anybody's artwork, no matter how crummy it looks. I want to hear anybody's heartfelt singing, no matter how off-key it is.
11. Even so, I don't press anybody for anything they don't feel like sharing.
12. I love my country, and I don't mean the land or the government. I love the people.
13. I don't give up. Icelandic has some tough phonetics, and German's syntax spins my mind in circles, but I keep at them. My job leaves my hands bleeding and painful at the end of an 11-hr work day that doesn't earn me much, but I keep at it.
14. I look smart, so people who hang around me look smart, too.