Like “The Patient” in Barbara Lawrence’s short story, many of us seek and invariably find some personal flaw that justifies devaluing ourselves or others. Stereotyping the self or others as unlovable and inferior is just one negative expression of the tendency to create categories of people. With the help of his therapist, “The Patient” gradually relinquishes his elaborate scheme for pigeon-holing people, and in so doing achieves greater self-acceptance. (16 pp.)