Tabitha and the Too-Much-Personality Problem


From a young age, Tabitha enjoyed three things: puzzles, pancakes, and peppering her parents with questions.


"Why is Pi so long?" she once asked at breakfast.


Her father, mid-bite into a waffle, said, "So it can go the distance."


She didn't laugh, but she did write that down. It was math-related, and therefore sacred.


By age ten, she was plotting the most efficient routes through grocery stores. At twelve, she calculated the total cost of everyone's dinner order—mentally—including tax and tip. By thirteen, she was helping her dad refinance their mortgage "just for fun."


Her parents, Sandy and Greg, cheered her on.


"You think in numbers, sweetheart," said Sandy, spooning mashed potatoes onto her daughter's plate. "But you feel with your whole heart."


"We call that a dangerous combination," Greg said, clinking his fork like a toast. "You might just change the world."


Tabitha smiled. That night, she decided she would live a life of purpose. She wasn't sure what that meant exactly, but she knew it had something to do with solving big, messy problems that adults argued about on the news.


Years passed. High school became college, and Tabitha followed the numbers straight into a Ph.D. program in economics. She aced game theory, devoured statistical modeling, and even found herself charmed by the dizzying math of labor markets.


But something started gnawing at her. It wasn't just the fluorescent lights, or the fact that nobody in the econ department made eye contact unless you mentioned Pareto efficiency. It was a feeling she couldn't quite name.


One afternoon, she finally spilled her heart to Dr. Mahesh, her faculty advisor.


"I love economics, I do," she said. "But I don't know if I belong here. I want to talk to people. I want to fix things. I want to argue with city planners and redesign healthcare systems and cry during public comment sessions at budget meetings."


Dr. Mahesh didn't hesitate. He just chuckled, slid his glasses down his nose, and said,


"Tabitha, you've got too much personality to become an economist."


Tabitha blinked.


"Is that… a compliment?"


"It's a detour," he said. "Look into a master's in public administration. It's where economics meets empathy. And budget spreadsheets. You'll love it."

He was right.


Within weeks, she transferred programs. By winter, she was thriving—leading policy simulations, giving animated presentations on equitable healthcare access, and sending friendly-but-firm emails to fictional mayors. She had never felt more alive.


At Thanksgiving, her family teased her mercilessly.


"Too much personality to be an economist," her uncle snorted into the gravy.
"You'd scare the Federal Reserve," her cousin said.
"You emote and balance budgets," her mom said. "Scandalous."


Tabitha just smiled.


Because somewhere between cost-benefit analyses and town hall debates, she had found what she was looking for all along: a way to use her brain and her heart in equal measure.


(This story is donated to the public domain.)



--
--
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
https://pairsmathgame.com
https://philshapirochatgptexplorations.blogspot.com/
https://bsky.app/profile/philshapiro.bsky.social

He/Him/His

"Wisdom begins with wonder." - Socrates
"Learning happens thru gentleness."
"We must reinvent a future free of blinders so that we can choose from real options."  David Suzuki

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