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in the weeds
Sep. 30th, 2010 02:01 pmLeo McGarry: This guy's walking down a street, when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep. He can't get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up "Hey you! Can you help me out?" The doctor writes him a prescription, throws it down the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up "Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me out?" The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. "Hey Joe, it's me, can you help me out?" And the friend jumps in the hole! Our guy says "Are you stupid? Now we're both down here!" and the friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out."
Buffy: My life happens to, on occasion, suck beyond the telling of it. Sometimes more than I can handle. And it’s not just mine. Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they’re too busy with their own. The beautiful ones. The popular ones. The guys that pick on you. Everyone. If you could hear what they were feeling. The loneliness. The confusion. It looks quiet down there. It’s not. It’s deafening.
The perfection problem
The above link was given by a couple of people Facebook recently. In the process of reading and thinking about it, it helped me crystalize some of how my thinking has evolved over the last few years.
In his essay the author discusses the pressure to appear perfect. Many, if not most, of us expend a lot of effort to put forth the appearance that everything is A-OK. He talks about how it stands in the way of being real about what is happening within our own lives, what's real in the lives of those around us, and how destructive that can ultimately be. (There are probably better summaries than that, but read the piece and decide for yourself. I think it's excellent.)
( wherein I natter. At some length )
Buffy: My life happens to, on occasion, suck beyond the telling of it. Sometimes more than I can handle. And it’s not just mine. Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they’re too busy with their own. The beautiful ones. The popular ones. The guys that pick on you. Everyone. If you could hear what they were feeling. The loneliness. The confusion. It looks quiet down there. It’s not. It’s deafening.
The perfection problem
The above link was given by a couple of people Facebook recently. In the process of reading and thinking about it, it helped me crystalize some of how my thinking has evolved over the last few years.
In his essay the author discusses the pressure to appear perfect. Many, if not most, of us expend a lot of effort to put forth the appearance that everything is A-OK. He talks about how it stands in the way of being real about what is happening within our own lives, what's real in the lives of those around us, and how destructive that can ultimately be. (There are probably better summaries than that, but read the piece and decide for yourself. I think it's excellent.)
( wherein I natter. At some length )
