Maybe the Nuns Were Right

Where I was a kid, there was a convent every few blocks. Usually affiliated with the local Catholic school and church. The nuns from said convents were a vigilante group, roaming the sidewalks and terrorizing small children. Among the things they'd launch on you for was being shy or selfish. "Shyness is selfishness!" they'd blast at your shocked little face. I was never shy so I didn't personally get that one, but I got lots of others- making faces, being rude, rolling eyes, being less than spit-shined... and I was a Protestant, so beneath contempt anyway. One of my Catholic friends stuttered, so they yelled at her for not speaking straight and for being shy. "If all you think about is yourself you'll go crazy!" they bellowed. They may have had a point. But is it because you're self-obsessed that you go nuts or is it because you're already nuts that you're self-obsessed?