R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

"Never take a person's dignity: it is worth everything to them, and nothing to
you." Frank Barron

I believe, in this interesting public forum we have come to know as Blog Land or whatever tag we choose to call it, a certain amount of respect is deserving to those whom we follow and vice versa. After all, everybody who is putting there thoughts on the blank canvas in front of them, is doing so in various frames of mind. It is easier to post and share your life if it is filled with a generous amount of happiness. But to others, it is a place where they have come to purge or share the darkness of their lives and in doing so, they take great risks. From an outsiders perspective, as we all are when we are the reader, we feel a great sense of compassion and empathy for the writer. Many times their words may reflect how we are feeling but we did not have the know how, the willingness or the courage to convey them in quite the same way. Or maybe, the shame we are feeling is just too much to bare.

Sometimes, when I read some of these posts, it is almost like an open conversation between individuals and I feel like an intruder. So when I feel like that, I just respectfully back away. More often than not, some of the pain I am reading about is so traumatic, no words are possible. And I would feel it almost an intrusion to comment just to say I did. Maybe I'm wrong about that or maybe that is just the way I think. I'm accustomed to recognizing when people are going thru a period of change in their lives. In a sense, it's not Rocket Science. It would be ideal for most individuals to just write happy stuff all of the time. But that is not the real world. To those that can, that is fantastic. And to those who are going thru struggles, uncertainty, anxiety and pain; your words are just as important to us, the reader, as they are to you. For it is in your courage to write and share that we can look within and find our real selves.