People like me. A rant.
When you hear a phrase over and over again, it starts to ring little bells in your head whenever it goes off. The bells in my belfry are ringing. So here's a small rant about "People like me".
You're all people like me. We are all of us capable of judging, of thinking for ourselves, of making decisions for ourselves. We are all capable of embracing or eschewing whatever it is that we choose to embrace or push away. We are all crazy. We are all sane. We are all capable of being both within the space of the same sentence.
We choose who we want to be. We choose what we want to feel and do and how we want to react. There is not one human being on this planet outside of a straightjacket that is not CAPABLE of changing anything they dislike about how they think, or how they act, how they feel. I believe that in all of you, even when you do not believe it of yourselves.
People with disabilities prove this all the time. I've worked with people with severe brain injuries. They work hard to overcome their limitations. Many can. Some cannot, but learn to deal and play the hand they're given.
So you're all not crazy. And I DO NOT EVER EVER THINK YOU'RE CRAZY! Yes, that's me yelling in my head at the computer screen. I wish with the force of a thousand stars that no one would ever worry about what I'm thinking and feeling about what's going on in their head. I have enough to deal with going on in my own head. Frankly you do too, all of you. Deal with what's in there, and just don't worry yourself about anyone else's head. They say chicks over forty won't ever ask what you're thinking, and it's true. We don't care. We really, really don't. We care how you act, and whether you seem to be damaging yourself over time.
Individually, and this is directed outward at every single person I know, I disagree with one or another choice you have made. Yup, there it is. I would not choose the same. Now, was that so bad? Take a deep breath.
I also, and here's the fun part, agree with one choice or another that every single human on this planet has made for themselves. Especially the ones about taking care of themselves, figuring themselves out, and going forward as the splendid, bright and shiny people that I know you all are inside.
I've walked around inside a psych ward, twice. I've seen the sad and unfortunate instance where the machine has gone wrong, and I quietly prayed for each one of them for enough of an adjustment that they could function again in a good place in the world. Just like I say a few words in my head everytime the ambulance goes by. It's reflexive, and if my tiny little happy waves mean a darned thing, I'd be glad.
People like me have faith in mankind. People like me think that every human being is wonderful, wanted, and useful in some way. People like me want only the best for everyone, and cheer quietly to ourselves when that seems to be going on. People like me are sad when we see people hitting their heads into the same walls over and over, but get resigned to the notion that we cannot remove all the walls, or convince all the people not to go wall seeking. We do not think less of the head butt-ers. We love them. And if those people say to us that they get a kick out of butting heads against walls, we'll have a sip of Belle de Brillet and toast their joy and not worry one little bit about them. Cause that's not our job.
People like us are too busy trying to live our own lives with our internal criteria of success, and weighing whether we're measuring up. We don't measure other people against our criteria because they're not us. They have their own paths. We weigh their success in terms of their happiness. Cause that's how we weigh our own.
So. Are y'all happy?