second hand embarrassment.

Last winter semester I was enrolled in an LDS Marriage and Family course.  I'm not really sure why I took it, but I ended up really enjoying the teacher and the way he presented the material (it was also weird to see him on TV during general conference because he's now a part of the SS General Presidency).  However, there is one negative aspect to the class that kept me from liking the class itself.

I don't know her name, but I know her voice, the way she says things, the slow speed at which she stutters, and her constant need to sound more important and knowledgeable with the most obvious of statements.  From the first day of class, from the first time she was called upon, I despised her.  But far worse than the annoyance I felt every time she opened her mouth was my extreme need to be anywhere else, anywhere not within listening distance.  I'd flush red, would start typing away on my computer in an attempt to distract my ears and mind, and would fidget in my seat, desperate for her to just stop talking.

It got to the point that most of us in the class would actually audibly groan whenever he called on her (why he continued to do so baffled me constantly), and every once in a while she would say something so utterly ridiculous that some guy, fed up with her pointless statements, would counter her supposed doctrinal knowledge.  I'm fairly certain she lies about things, that she's one of those individuals who will stretch truth, even make up things, in order to have something to say.

It irritates me.  And I'm a mean person.  But I just can't take it.

I'd actually forgotten about this girl, until someone in my class this morning reminded me of her - constantly talking, saying silly things, going on for minutes at a time, restating our professor's opinion (albeit not as well), making the rest of us hate her for the two and a half hours we have to hear her preach her life opinions.

And then I realized something.

It's HER.

*headdesk*