Reading all of these made me so sad. :

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A few times stand out in my mind.
-I did track in high school and we had a little "awards" ceremony at the end of the season. The coach called everyone up one by one and said a bunch of sweet things or a funny story about each person. When it was my turn she paused for a while and was like, "Welllll, she's definitely one of the most quiet people I've met!" and laughed....I just remember feeling so embarrassed and ashamed of myself. Everyone just stared at me while I stood there with red cheeks. It hurt that she had something nice to say about everyone, and could only point out my shortcomings.
-In college my roommate had a friend who would hang around our dorm room often. He was pretty much one of the loudest and most obnoxious person on campus yet everyone seemed to love him. I didn't really talk to either of them much because we had little in common. I was working on a paper at my desk one time and he said very loudly behind me, "do you realize shy people get nowhere in life???". That phrase has constantly echoed in my mind ever since he said it, sometimes I feel like he is right.....at least in my case :

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