Introverts: Not So Bad

Our society has praised the people that are loud and out there; the people that actually want to strike up a conversation with a total stranger. As for the introverts, they just get a bad rap. If someone decides to level a store with their car, most of the people start talking about that person as if they cannot believe that it happened or point to the fact that he or she was a total loner and did not interact with other people so "obviously they were a ticking time bomb." That unknown factor freaks us out, and in not knowing the personality quirks of an introvert, we assume that it must be bad, just to be on the safe side. People seem to think that because we're not out at the club or taking part in the neighborhood meetings or using the wonderful IP telephony to chitchat with everyone, we're sitting at home, alone in the dark, softly crying, wishing that someone--anyone--would rescue us from the loneliness. I'm not talking about people who are introverts against their will. I'm talking about the millions of us out there who are introverts because we simply prefer our nice, quiet houses over the jaw-clinching idiocy of public functions.