AT A COUNTRY HOUSE

At A Country House

Lived a toad. An old upper class know-it-all, Rashevitch, who loves to talk and talk and talk.

Listening to himself is music to his ears and everyone else's speech is static.

He hasn't read a new book in twenty years -- hasn't travelled -- but he's full of ideas.

Standing in front of him is a nice young man Meier -- a potential suitor to one of his daughters -- who actually tolerates him -- but the toad finally alienates him like he's done to everyone else in town.

A mean spirit -- full of contempt for all except those of Blue Blood -- in the end becomes corrosive. Drowns in his own venom.

The Golden Rule: One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. The egoist toad Rashevitch never learned this and all his talk about superiority only masks his complete insignificance.

What is most pathetic of all is that all his words are a mask covering up his fears and insecurities. And mostly the feeling of not being loved. When you feel you are not loved then you begin to attack others -- compensating for the emptiness. If his daughters had not been so bored -- or frivolous and actually respected and loved their father -- then the toad may in deed have become a prince.

How were the daughters raised? Was the toad always a toad? Did his wife also not love him? Where did his feeling of not being loved begin?

The world is full of sad, unhappy people who feel unloved and we all suffer as a result.

The Beatles had it right: All You Need is Love.

That said, I have one big problem with this story. It's false.

After Rashevitch messes up and offends Meier and Meier tells him that he comes from the Artisan class -- Chekhov proceeds to make Rashevitch feel ashamed.

Rashevitch regrets what he did. He knows he screwed up and he wants his daughters to forgive him.

However, I've known a few people like Rashevitch and they never feel ashamed. They are not contrite. In fact, they retrench. He would be blaming Meier and not himself. Egoists never think they're wrong. That's why they're egoists. They only see their side of things.

And Rashevitch is presented as a major egoist and he's probably been like that for a long time and in reality he will continue in his ways and it's up to others to get with the program. If he was that self-aware and so readily ashamed for his crude behavior he would've changed his ways a long time ago. Egoists are blind to their surroundings and their actions.

That's why this world is so hard to make better because people are not going to change their ways no matter how wrong they seem to everyone else.

They will stick to their guns come hell or high water.