Like Water from a Duck's Back

Just ignore it... Consider the source...Pay no attention to him... he's full of hot air... whatever!

Sitting at one of the far back tables at a recent black tie affair for 750 gala-goers, I listened to the influential, speaker gracelessly slam online learning -- something that I am pretty much passionate about at the moment. His careless categorization of land-based, accredited, respected universities offering online degrees as diploma mills made me want to vomit. His hyponasal voice whirred in my head during the rest of the dinner and hissed in my dreams throughout the night. I could not unstick myself from it. My wiser and more confident friends reflexively slough criticism, like so much proverbial water from a duck's back, while I cannot resist trying it on, wallowing in it, and tormenting myself with self-doubt.

So why, at 53, did I ruminate about an off-handed remark made with such obvious abandon for fact? Partially because I believe that those careless comments were tacitly accepted as truth by many of the bobbing heads in the room. While bothersome, there's more than simply that.
On some level at least, I'm not as secure or mature as I thought. I'm waiting to grow up, or to get to the point where I can anticipate unfounded criticism spilling off my waterproof back.