when do you not care anymore?

Anorexic. Man-dromeda. Freak (or weak or geek,or something along those lines).  All common names for andromeda.  But she doesn't care anymore.

I am reading Andromeda Klein, by Frank Portman.  This book is about a teenage occultist named (of course) Andromeda Klein.  Her only friend, Daisy, is dead and andromeda has no real friends.  She is insulted and called names twenty-four seven.  But she seems to handle this very calmly.  It is possible that after years of disrespect. As if she has become immune to it. 

But my question is, how long before you become immune? How many years must pass before you are okay with people calling you names?  Is it possible that this just becomes something that you expect to happen?  It reminds me of that comercial, I think it's for "Orbitz ®", with the man who knows what to expect and whats going to happen a few seconds before it does, so he isn't really affected by what happens.  Andromeda knows that someone is going to insult her, so she isn't really affected either. 

But something that I realize about both andromeda and the man in the commercial is that even though they both have the ability to stop it, knowing that it is going to happen,  but they don't prevent it.  In the Commercial, the man knows that the little girl on the bike is going to go through a puddle and splash him with water, but he doesn't step back before she goes through the water.  Andromeda could change her appearance before someone calls her anorexic, but she still remains skinny.  Of course Andromeda's case is a bit more serious and would take more time and effort to resolve, but  she can still prevent it.

All in all, Andromeda seems immune to the insults of others.  From this I infered that she expects these things to happen.  Like the man in the orbitz commercial, she is able to prevent these bad things from happening to her, but she does not.  but really, how long does it take for the heart to form a shell that doesn't let in insults?



By the way, if I find the commercial on youtube, i'll try to atach it. :)