There are a couple things that might be fairly touchy areas. This list could include, but isn't limited to:

• Personal Appearance (weight, hair, etc)
• Finances
• Your past
• Sex
• Politics
• Religion

Some of these could be limited to mixed environments. By this, I'm referring to places with multiple religions, or political backgrounds. It's certainly possible that there is discomfort when discussing sex. These three areas are fairly obvious as to why they could be uncomfortable. The others might be as well, but I'm still going to talk about them.

I know I'm overweight. In the gringo culture it's not appropriate to discuss somebody's weight. You can't make the comments "you're fat" or "you're ugly" or "you're hair makes you look like a banshee" or "you're going bald". After a bit of prep work you can probably deliver one of those messages in a toned down way, but you can't just come out and say it. It takes a bit of warming up. In relationships this is one of the more obvious things, since you can't exactly hide your appearance. But, just like the elephant in the kitchen, it seems to be widely avoided. Bringing up such a topic is difficult, but fairly obvious.

Finances tend to be managed by one person in a family. The other person might or might not know about them. It's healthy to keep it common knowledge between the two important parties. I would imagine that the difficulties arise when it involves changing habits with regards to finances. "Hey, we need to cut back on X, Y, or Z." or "I went to the court and filed bankruptcy". They could be uncomfortable topics indeed.

I really want to spend more time on this next one. Your past or personal history is always a mystery. Despite what may be portrayed by a website filled with my opinions, I still am a fairly private person. I think most people are, except for those people that seem to think that we care about every detail of their life. When you meet somebody for the first time, all you know about them is what they tell you. Combine that with some of the clues you may be able to piece together about their past, and that's pretty much it.

You might tell a story or two about that one time you and a friend did something, or that when you went somewhere or saw something. Beyond those things, people tend to have a positive assumption about you. I should say that I, personally, tend to assume that someone's past is similar to how they're living now. Due to the fact that I don't offer much insight into mine, I tend not to expect much out of others. But with that said, your past is the key to who you are today. The more others can understand about your past, I would wager to say that it is more likely that they'll understand who you are currently. Significant events in your past tend to be your largest stumbling or building blocks. At the same time, due to the nature of some of these things, they're also very personal at times. The benefit is that what people don't know won't hurt them. I see it more as a privilege to be let in on some of those larger stumbling/building events.

I was recently turned down for a new job. I was speaking with the person who was doing the hiring after the fact and had recalled a clip from Batman Begins (which I'd be happy to talk about elsewhere). The butler dude asks Bruce Wayne something which Bruce's father had asked him many times before, "Master Bruce, why do we fall?" The answer to their question was/is, "So we can learn to pick ourselves up again." I bring this up, since many times this emotional build up and tear down only makes us stronger in the end.

Such is the situation with many of these difficult conversations. I'm getting side-tracked. Anyway, like I was saying before, this list of topics is in no way conclusive, but is just a base for what I'd like to say next.

I've had a variety of these discussions in my life. I just had one the other night actually. I have a friend that recently has had two of these difficult conversations. Knowing the nature of both of them, I can't help but be happy, and in a way, proud of them. Knowing that the conversations only help them grow as a person, and usually relieve possible pressure which has been building… I admit that I think more of them as a person. With the retrospect allowed after any conversation, I tend to hope that people recognize the difficulty in addressing certain issues, and give a bit more leniency than they normally would with regards to the person or topic of conversation. Such is certainly the case with regards to this friend. I applaud you, though you're highly unlikely to ever actually read this, or know that I'm talking about you.

I don't really have any sort of summary to this entry. It's just been something I've been thinking about all weekend, and needed to mentally vent. Since you're the lucky sucker to read it, thanks for listening, and take what you can from it.