The Critic (Photo credit: A river runs through)

”Do you know the easiest job in the world?” My friend asked nibbling through her popcorn as we watched Mel Gibson‘s acclaim film, ‘The Patriot.’

”No,” I replied absent-mindedly, totally engrossed with Mel Gibson hacking through the body of a British soldier who had taken his son.

”The job of a critic,”  she declared self righteously, her eyes spitting fire and I groaned inwardly, knowing exactly where the conversation was heading.

”Huh,” I grunted and she got the message. I was not going to allow her distract my attention from the film.

The film was over before I knew it and I saw her off,  we chatted briefly about the story line and the American war of Independence and she left with a promise to keep in touch. On my way back home, I thought about the question she’d asked earlier.

We are all critics one way or the other, watching X factor, I had my favourites contestants, there are some books I would never read, some music I would never listen to and some movies I would never watch and I think I am not alone. That doesn’t make me a critic but I just chose not to like such forms of entertainment.

Granted, it’s easy to criticise but sometimes critics can build us up and make us a better person. Writers hated bad reviews with a passion, I do and I even dread it with every fibre of my being but sometimes you can see through the eyes of a critic and improve yourself.

But some people would never see anything good about anything or anybody, people like that have problems, deep-seated issues about their lives.

Maybe you’ve come across people like that in your neighbourhood, it could be anywhere, my advice… Just ignore them and live your life with no care in the world!

Everyone cannot love you, Barack Obama can testify to that. It is deeply imbedded in our makeup as humans, we are irrevocably fallible and prone to seeking people’s approval, when we don’t even realise it.

And the great news is  while some people might hate your gut others may simply kiss the ground you walk on.