"Call me a snob, but I still can't abide teenage philosophers wailing out their diary entries as if they had lived."

I can't help but think about Janis Ian, who started composing when she was in her early teens. Even though she was young, her mastery of poetry and music was formidable. I'd hate to think that there might have been someone in her life who wasn't ready to encourage her simply because they had decided that a kid her age could have nothing worth saying.

Yes, it's a cruel world, especially for performers who put their egos on the line every time they stand in front of an audience. Not all are going to make it, and most will drop by the wayside soon enough. There will be a few who will suck badly, and will never get that, unless they hear it loudly from an audience member, and then, if their skin is thick enough, it still won't stop them because their need to perform is greater than their acceptance of other people's annoyance at their efforts.

People need encouragement, all people. It's a fine line in knowing when the best encouragement would be well thought-out and delivered critisism. I have never booed someone, but I have certainly refrained from applauding. It's the only thing I feel I can do, unless they specifically ask my opinion...that, or walking out of the place altogether.

Keeping a high level of tolerance is harder with age, because we have had the time to experience and judge what we deem worthy through much trial and error of our own, and our abilities to settle for less, even for the minutes it takes to sit through someone's excrutiating rendition of a well-loved song may be just too much to bear. But I'd rather keep schtum and understand that all people crave to be good at something, and a lot never will. My sympathy for them outweighs (most of the time) my need to get in their face and deflate their dreams even more.