The Light Inside

When little kids tell adults who they are and what they think or what they are good at it is received with praise and encouragement. Little kids have their whole life to grow into the next Einstein or Van Gogh. You wouldn't look at a little kid and tell them what they do is terrible or what they dream is stupid. You would never criticize how they look or point out flaws in their bodies.

But as adults all of this changes. Who we want to be and who we think we are is questioned and judged constantly. People go to plastic surgeons to get 'fixed'. Women are blown up as sex objects in television and magazines. Women even invest in magazines to tell them how to be better and look better; because who they are isn't good enough.

I see it in people's eyes when they talk to me... they are still that kid inside, painting the picture of who they are, who they have become. They describe themselves as an outdoor enthusiast or a fashionista or maybe a talented writer? While I listen to them describe that intense hike or everything they know about designer labels, I might think they aren't who they say they are. But do you think I would ever challenge it? Never. I could never suck the light they feel out of their life.

If thinking that they are the world's strongest man or most fashionable woman is what gets them through their day, who am I to judge? And more importantly, who am I to kill their light? This is what makes them them! This is what makes them happy and what makes them beautiful.

I've learned the hard way that the minute someone does tell you that who you thought you were or what you wanted to be isn't who you truly are and sometimes more painful, points out flaws about you that you cannot fix, you never really forget.

I guess when I think about the light I see in the people I love though... It doesn't matter if they aren't who they see. I see something more beautiful than they could ever create.