I must remain the way I am for the time being. I thought of all the advantages this phenomenon has given me. When people become depressed or distressed, they turn to their friends only to receive unworkable advice, like Cheer up, or Turn it over to God, or Think of all the people who are worse off than you. The first piece of advice is impractical. The second piece of advice, because it is impractical, becomes a religious guilt trip that compounds the misery.
Most people are at a loss to counsel the depressed, the distressed, the bereaved, or the suicidal.
Every year I go through this emotional fire drill, so I can sit down and chat with such people, and if I cannot lift their burdens, I can help them bear them. Once I chanced to sit next to a woman in a hospital waiting room. Her only relative was having both legs amputated, and she was in distress. We spoke for an hour. She was so elated afterwards she felt compelled to give me a gift.