Broke Down Spirit

If you love me, show me that you love me. Give me accurate information about me. Give the time and effort to be knowledgeable of my concerns and capabilities…and, yes, my weaknesses. If I tell you that I love you, you will know that I am willing to do the same for you.

HARSH WORDS & LOG-EYED ABUSE

All right, here’s the deal. My words may seem “harsh” to some…my words are real. If my expression seems harsh to you, then you have a problem with realness, and NOT with me. So, don’t treat me like something is “wrong” with me. What gives ANYone the right to point out what is wrong with another person? Not to be preachy, but what ever happened to getting the log out of your eye before you start digging around for splinters in mine!?

Here’s one of my “bottom lines”: If you don’t like who and what I am…and you insist on bombarding me with your ill-informed observations (i.e., judgments)…please, go find someone else to ABUSE. Yes, I said abuse. This is straight-up abuse.

PERFECTIONISM

Do not tell me that I am a perfectionist because I strive for excellence. What is it about YOU that is threatened by my search for excellence? Have you ever gone into the doctor’s office or a hospital and asked to be treated by the least “perfect” or excellent doctor there? Would you? Well, you might just get that doctor. Wouldn’t you rather have the “perfectionist?” Really? I enjoy going into restaurants and asking the hostess to seat me with their WORST server. Can you see where I’m going with this? Of course, the hostess would claim that they didn’t have a “worst” server. Is it just me, or can you see how this is a lie. I know–and you know–that there is someone in that restaurant that everybody “talks about” and chides for being a pitiful server. To think otherwise is delusional. We like delusion. I want THAT person to wait on me. You would be absolutely amazed at how most of these “worst servers” rise to the occasion when they know that you asked to be waited on by “the worst.” It has resulted in some of my best dining experiences.

STRONG STYLE

Don’t bother telling me “Bruce, you are such a great writer…it’s just that some people feel threatened by that…you “come across SO strong.” And??? Hello!? What am > I < supposed to do about this? Do not tell me that there is something “wrong” with my “style”…tell me what is “wrong” with the STUFF that I wrote…PLEASE!!! I want to learn…I want to grow. If you are criticizing my “style,” you are telling me that you want me to un-learn and to shrink. Not to mention that you are unwilling to take the time to actually consider whether or not there just MIGHT be some validity to what I am saying.

CONFORM OR WE WILL KILL YOU: OTHER CRAZY PEOPLE

PLEASE don’t tell me that there might be something “wrong” with my views when several people do not agree with what I am saying. I hate to break it to you, but I am not the first person who said things that a bunch of people didn’t like. A few people come to mind. And, if the list bothers you, don’t blame me…try actually THINKING about what I am saying!

Barack Hussein Obama
Saddam Hussein
Mother Teresa
Frederick Douglas
Jerry Falwell, Sr.
Malcom X
John Forbes Nash, Jr.
Michael a.k.a. “Martin Luther” King, Jr.
Martin Luther
Pat Robertson
Teddy Roosevelt
George Carlin
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Richard M. Nixon
John F. Kennedy
Thomas Aquinas
Bede the Venerable
Maria Montessori
Herbert Spencer
Charles Darwin
Galileo Galilei
Saul of Tarsus
John the Baptist
Jesus of Nazareth
Rosa Parks
Moses
Isaiah
Rush Limbaugh
Joshua
Jean Jacques Rousseau
H. D. Thoreau
Edgar Allan Poe
Jozef Stalin
Adolf Hitler…

WHY do we even talk about and study these people? Well, it is because they are what is known as “historical figures.” Why are they historical figures? Well, because they were un-sane…ab-normal…they “bucked” the system…they were “different.” Some are/were good, some bad, and some ugly…but they are/were all significant. And, guess what…so am I. If you do not wish to acknowledge your own significance, please don’t drag me down by maligning mine. Go ahead…accuse me of having a “Messiah Complex” (you would’ve said the same thing about the Messiah). Tell me I “suffer” from delusions of grandeur (maybe I’m not the deluded one?). Analyze me. Judge me. When you’re done, you’ll still be locked in your chains (pssst…the key is in your hand), and all you will have done is slowed me down a little. Why would you want to do that? Please, tell me…I want to know.

TYPICAL REACTIONS (Yes, you…)

Some will read this and think, “Oooo, Bruce is angry.” Yes, Bruce IS angry. Bruce is indignant. So what? Does that change what I am saying? Do my feelings invalidate the obvious truth in my words?

Some will observe that, “Bruce must have really been hurt.” Yes, Bruce has been hurt. Would you like to hurt him some more? Then give him some incorrect information about his strengths…tell him he is “wrong.” Add to the abuse. Go ahead…he’s used to it.

Some might guess that, “Bruce must really be a lonely person.” No kidding, master or mistress of the obvious. Bruce is lonely. He needs to be held and affected and nurtured as much (actually more) than the delusional comfortable ones. See? Along with all of this intellectual intensity, complexity, and drive, Bruce has been “blessed” with emotional intensity, complexity, and drive. Because of this companionship prospects are unfortunately quite slim for him.

Then there are the “sure bets”: “He is crazy.” “He is weird.” “He’s just ‘not right.’” Duh. [I actually despise that expression, "duh," but it seems fitting here...and it is something that most of my contemporaries will readily understand.]

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Okay…you get a reprieve…for now. I’ll be back. If my musings resonate with you, you have my sympathy. If they don’t, you have my empathy. But, none of you get apathy…well, maybe SOME of you. You have an open invitation to validate or denigrate. One of the great things about finally recognizing my greatness is that I can learn something from both.

Lead, follow, or get out of my way.

Amen.