Honest Abe had it right. |
I
like real plants, real wood floors, and real gold jewelry. In short, I favor
the authentic, and this includes people. In fact, this is especially true of me
concerning people.
Please
stay away from me with your fake smiles, your hidden agendas, and your tiresome
mind games. If you want to live in that world I feel sorry for you—but not
sorry enough to play along. It’s soul killing work.
I
know there are others like me out there, people uninterested in “going along to
get along,” “playing the game,” and all that other junk. In “Unfold,” singer
and songwriter MariƩ Digby sings,
“But I don’t wanna go on living/Being so afraid of showing/Someone else my
imperfections/And even though my feet are trembling/And every word I say I’m
stumbling/I will bare it all … watch me unfold.” In “Bottle It Up,” Sarah
Bareilles tells us, “I am aiming to be somebody that somebody trusts/With her
delicate soul/I don’t claim to know much/Except soon as you start/To make room
for the parts/That aren’t you it gets harder to bloom in a garden of love,
love, love, love, love, love, love, love.”
Amen
sisters.
I
have an aunt who’s a nurse, and she told me about a patient of hers, an
eighty-plus-year-old-man, whom she asked “What is the secret to a long life?”
His one-word reply? “Honesty.” I like to think that he wasn’t just talking
about ‘fessing up to taking that cookie from the cookie jar, but about being
genuine, real, and authentic, unafraid to be seen as someone with faults,
fears, and imperfections. Someone who wants and is dependent on the affections
of others. Someone with personal integrity —not like one constantly bending this way and that because it's easier than standing firm for something you believe.
I
want to live a life that celebrates my humanity, but it’s hard, because the
world is hard and people are cruel. But I’m of the age when I can’t fathom any
other way to be. As a friend of mine would say, “I don’t have time for the okey
doke.” (That’s urban for “con,” people.)
In
Paul’s second letter to Timothy, Paul writes, “For God has not given us the spirit
of fear, but of power and love and disciple.” I think about this scripture
often, because being true and faithful to truth requires courage of a sort that
is not easily found, in my experience. So, I thank God for the courage, because being
true is what I aspire to—despite how much it hurts.
No comments:
Post a Comment