Has This Ever Happened to Anyone Else?

In my life, the following situation occurs all the time, with numerous different people. I think there might be something wrong with me…

Friend: Hi, Evan

Me: Hey, how’s it going?

Friend: Ugh… fine, I guess…

Me: What’s wrong?

Friend: Didn’t you hear what ‘so-and-so’ said today?

Me: Probably…

Friend: Ugh, ‘so-and-so’ really irritates me. They are so annoying.

Me: Um… Well, I definitely don’t agree with what ‘so-and-so’ did, but I think it’s not worth-it to get worked-up over. After all, that’s just who they are. Ignore that one flaw and your left with a pretty decent person in the end.

Friend: I-don’t-know, I just… can’t get over it. Doesn’t it bother you?

Me: I guess not. Being bothered with it seems like so much work.

(Another friend walks up)

Other Friend: Hey guys, what’s up?

Friend: We were just talking about ‘so-and-so’. Did I tell you what they did today?

Other Friend: Ugh, I HATE ‘so-and-so’. What happened?

(After a brief exchange…)

Other Friend: Oh-my-gosh, I can’t believe that…

Friend: I know, and Evan is defending them!

Other Friend: (looks at me) What! Why?

Me: Bu-… Wha-… No, I wasn’t defending them; I just don’t like it when you guys say mean things about them.

Other Friend: But didn’t you hear what they did?

Friend: (taps shoulder of third friend passing by…) Hey, what do you think of ‘so-and-so’?

Third Friend: (stops… glances at all of us… shakes head) ‘So-and-so’ – I can’t stand ‘em.

Friend: See, Evan. You just don’t get it.

Other Friend: (chimes in) Oh-my-gosh, this one time, ‘so-and-so’... (tells story)

Friend: …Oh yeah, that was when we were friends with ‘whatserface’…

Third Friend: …‘whatserface’ – I can’t stand her...

Me: (Quietly resigns from conversation to think about something else…)

Why is it – in a world of famine, disease, drought, and corruption – all we can ever find to complain about is each other?