Some thoughts:
Is taking writing seriously helpful to the process? Is taking ourselves seriously a beneficial strategy? Who is it that is taking whom seriously? Who is suppressing who’s voice? Why? Who is “out there”? Who is “in here”? Who is it that is afraid of hurting or being hurt?
I took a walk today in the neighborhood where I live. It is all very clean and safe and orderly. I felt appreciation for it all. It is no longer something to overcome. The people in the houses that I passed would most likely be horrified by some of my cherished notions. That is okay. I feel love for them. They are so wonderful and mysterious in their strange worlds. How delightful that I can live among them unnoticed and free!
Were I to write down some things that I have experienced and tried to publish them in the local paper, or in a book they might read, or if I were to go on the “Today” show and share my life story I might be stoned to death by the.. no wait… that is not here….I read that in the New York Times!
So who is my audience? Who is your audience? Shall we be each other’s ears and eyes? Shall we allow each other to be genuine, honest and shall we be kind by taking in, allowing, accepting, appreciating expressions unlike our own? Is it safe to share? What anger, aggression, blaming, shame, resentment, envy, hatred is unspeakable? Unlovable? Unacceptable? What thoughts are so powerful as to tear down lives and disrupt the peace of the everyday? What harm can what you feel “inside” of you really do that perhaps it has not already done in some way? Let us give each other permission to be who we are. It is safer that way.

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