Buridan's Ass 1/2 (English 3/5)

   I have an irrational need not to make anyone or anything feel “jealous.” I suppose it boils down to how I would feel if anyone treated me worse than anyone else, but it goes deeper than that. I don’t make any preferences in the restaurants or shops I visit, because I know how I would feel if my place went out of business from lack of customer support. But this is a rational thing; capitalism dictates those who get more customers don’t fail, and since I don’t want anyone to fail, being the empath I am, I visit everyone equally.

   But it’s not always rational like that, like I said. I carefully avoid mentioning foxes in case cats get jealous. I carefully sidestep when I am making lists of kinds of wild dogs, or things that are ruddy orange, or furry animals with bushy tails. My enjoyment of animals is hampered somewhat because I try to enjoy both animals equally.

   This kind of interferes in my life, sort of. I mean, whenever I’m in a library, looking at all of the different choices of fascinating reading materials, I kind of feel like I don’t know what to read. There’s so many options, and I don’t want  to pick one book over the other. But it'd be better to read at all than not to read, even if you can't read it all. That one guy, with the name, with the donkey between two stacks of hay. Balaam, that's it. Balaam's Ass (or, hmm, I think that might be something else...) You just can't starve to death.