Not My Exact Opposite

I’ll start off with a humorous comparison. “When and how he entered the department, and who appointed him, no one could remember. However much the directors and chiefs of all kinds were changed, he was always to be seen in the same place, the same attitude, the same occupation…” This quote reminds me of Milton Waddams from the movie Office Space. He worked in the same position and no one really knew who he was. He stopped receiving his paycheck, but it was because he had been fired five years before and no one told him. Milton Waddams enjoyed his job of collating as much as Akaky in “The Overcoat” enjoyed copying. (It was not stressed in such a depressing tone, but the comparison still stands.) Milton had the red Swingline stapler that “didn’t bind up as much,” his perfect familiar office, and the work he knew so well. Both characters were made fun of.
I did not feel sorry for Akaky until his overcoat got stolen. He felt secure and at home copying. His life was complete when he did it; it was his passion. People like Akaky, attached to one thing only and having not experienced any other part of life, usually lead a very upsetting life but are happy to lead it. I would not tear Akaky away from his copying in hopes of befriending him with some other hobby or person. Doing so would only hurt him. Leave Akaky to be as he is.
I, at one point in my life, was like Akaky. As a child, my least unpleasant punishment in school was writing standards or definitions. I did not enjoy the words, but loved the way my pen felt on my paper and in my hand. Akaky, similar to this, enjoyed some letters more than others but still felt the same way I did about the physical act of writing.