Trying to write this post without sound like an arrogant prick is going to be hard. Oh wait, heheh. Hard prick. Heh. Recovering now. Soldiering on.
When I first saw this question in the blog homework, I knew I was really going to need some time to think about before I started typing myself into a corner I didn't want to be in. Because whenever someone asks me a question along these lines my first impulse is to say something so ridiculous and outlandish in the hopes that someone will call me on it and next thing you know, we're having a genuine discussion on how'd I'd fare as Emperor of America.
But then my second impulse is to say that my sense of humor is my best quality, because many people have told me something along those lines. Anyone who's known me for an extended period of time has always been surprised by how funny I am. And I can find the humor from something super introspective and deep to the simplest and stupidest of things.
Other people would say that my intelligence is my best quality. Very few things have been hard for me in terms of academics or anything along those lines. I'm going for my mechanical engineering major, am learning music theory , and am capable of discussing books and other media on a level with my sister who's an English major.
But if you held a gun to my head I'd probably say that my best quality is my ability to understand people. It's an ability that I inherited from my mom, we call it reading people. It's taking in all the information that a person puts out there, whether they realize it or not. Things like the clothes they wear, their body posture, the tone they speak in, the way their eyes move - they all tell a little bit about a person. And putting all those little things together gives you a very good idea of what a person's thinking and feeling. And if you use that information in a good way, you can use it to connect and form deeper bonds with people than you could without it.
For example, I don't think I've ever been surprised or shocked when someone in my life has come out as gay or bisexual. I think I actually knew before my sister did. She'd probably be mad if I told this story, but I'm gonna tell it anyway because it's super funny. We were in the Catholic Campus ministry at the college we attended and the bishop of the diocese came to speak after Mass. People were submitting questions anonymously for the bishop to answer on little slips of paper. So a question came up for the bishop about how the Church views bisexuality. And I can't remember his exact answer, but he gave the standard Catholic answer - love and don't judge let God do it. And I remember thinking in my head - I bet I know who asked that question. And at this point my sister hadn't come out to me yet. And I was driving home and asked her if there was anything she wanted to tell me. So she came out to me that she was bisexual, and that she was afraid that I would judge her for it, because I wasn't as open-minded back then. And she asked me how I knew, and I told her that I knew that the question for the bishop was from her. And I told her I would always love her and that it didn't matter what she did with whomever.
And I always try to use that ability to help connect with people and help them out. So I think that's my best quality. But other people might think different.
Hard prick. Heh. I'm still laughing at that one.
@rambo @missy