According to the Mayo Clinic, those who have narcissistic personality disorder can:

• “Have an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
• Have a sense of entitlement and require constant, excessive admiration.
• Expect to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it.
• Exaggerate achievements and talents.
• Be preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate.
• Believe they are superior and can only associate with equally special people.
• Monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people they perceive as inferior.
• Expect special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations.
• Take advantage of others to get what they want.
• Have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others.
• Be envious of others and believe others envy them.
• Behave in an arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as conceited, boastful and pretentious.
• Insist on having the best of everything — for instance, the best car or office.”

I believe narcissistic personality disorder has become so much the norm, so pervasive, so prevalent that it also commonly afflicts larger entities and organizations including:

• Human Resources.
• Management.
• The Republican Party.
• The Democratic Party.
• The Legislative Branch.
• The Executive Branch.
• The Judicial Branch.
• Organized Religion.
• Health Care.
• The United States of America.

This is far from a complete list.

I am expected by more powerful NPD's to be happy taking care of my piece of our plateau. And I do a good job; clearing, cutting, trimming, keeping it looking nice. There's a nice view and people like to visit. Our reviews from visitors are solid. The problem for me is I no more than get one section trimmed and looking nice when another section is threatening unruliness. So I move on, and again, and again. Meanwhile, the more powerful NPD's look down upon my work and congratulate themselves on keeping their visitors happy, not noticing and/or ignoring the prickly undergrowth around the perimeter and the ominous overgrowth stretching above our plateaunic oasis and the slippery erosion just beneath the surface.

There is work that could and should be done. I prefer a path with possibility over a plot of land to maintain.

I have one more week on our pleasant plateau before I take a new path up the hill.