Everyone has baggage. You, me, Chow Yun Fat. And you and me don't have the luxury of shooting our problems away with a gun in each hand.

But what if we did? What would be worse: having just one bad guy to shoot, or ten bad guys? Or twenty? Or a hundred? How many bad guys is too much?

In my opinion, it's not a question of how many bad guys—it's a question of how many bullets.

Let's step away from this analogy now before I butcher it further. It's not a question of how much baggage a person has—it's a question of whether or not that person can deal with it his/her baggage.

I know a female ex-coworker who's had a tough childhood. Her family had to flee from persecution in Vietnam. She's had relatives murdered, brothers kidnapped, and family scattered all over the world. After arriving in America, she's had a lot of guys ask her out, but only dated a few of them seriously.

If you were to meet her, she'd strike you as a remarkably secure and mature person. And she is, despite a tumultuous background. Even her parents say she's an exceptionally level-headed person.

Contrast that to another female ex-coworker who had a very different childhood. She grew up in Taiwan and had a limo take her to elementary school every morning. Her family's cook once made her breakfast too salty, so she threw it out the window.

If you were to meet her, you'd probably be captivated by her. She's gorgeous. And rich. And has had a lot of boyfriends, two of which had proposed to her. But if you disagreed with her, she'd throw a tantrum until you apologized, then she'd dump you.

Why is there such a stark difference between the two?

The first ex-coworker was gifted with a lot of bullets. The second was not. Maybe it's because they inherited these traits, maybe it's because their environments shaped them, or maybe it's both.

Baggage is a person's collection of painful experiences. They can come from bad relationships or events in the past. Everyone has them. Everyone has to deal with them. Some, however, are better at dealing with them than others.

So how much baggage is too much? When I meet a girl who can't deal with her baggage, then that's too much.

. . .

How much baggage is too much for you?