listening

if it's important to be a safe place for people to share what is rotten about themselves, it's also important to be a safe place for people to share what they like and what they are passionate about. I feel like people who are honest about what they actually like encounter a lot of ridicule. that's dumb. whether I like what they like is irrelevant, I don't think it's good to make people feel embarassed or ashamed, or to make them fear ridicule. now, of course, I wonder how often I do make people feel embarassed or ashamed. let people like what they like. don't worry, they probably think that what you do is as stupid or unappealing as you think what they do is.

but what about when what people are doing actually is stupid, and isn't just taste, and they're actually wasting their lives away? I don't know, and that's not really what I'm referring to anyway. (as a note, I suspect that if somebody else was writing everything I write, and I was reading it, I would probably disagree with myself on a lot of things, or at least push against what I'm saying, and clarify, and make distinctions. that gets old after a while though. and while making distinctions and arguing with myself can be useful when it's honest and something I'm really grappling with, it's tiresome when it's done just so that people won't misunderstand what I have to say and think I'm an idiot. that can also be important. so if you are reading something I write, and happen to think I'm an idiot, I probably agree with you (including thinking I'm an idiot after reading that sentence, since I obviously am not going to agree with everyone's disagreements with me). blah blah blah)

I don't like guilt, either, and I want no part in making people feel guilty. but I know the temptation of making people feel guilty when they mess up. that's dumb.

also, when I'm miserable or in a bad mood, I don't want to be a person that makes everyone else miserable. that's dumb too. I do realize that I have a tendency to do this, and I don't like it.

most things in life are dumb, but Jesus isn't, and I actually mean that.