Monthly Archives: March 2015

Have you ever thought about what your greatest weakness is? Really sat down, turned off the world, and thought about it? Not the canned response you tell to your interviewer, trying to slip a selling point into a feigned moment of introspection. I’m talking about that one habit, that personality quirk that stops you dead and smothers your aspirations. It’s the bedrock beneath the wall standing between you and who you want to be. It’s hard to criticize yourself like that, and even if you find the answer, you might be wrong. But I think you have to find it, embrace what it can give you and then rip away what’s left, to mature. I don’t know if I’ve found my problem, but I feel like I’ve got a decent bead on it:

I always give up.

Continue reading →

You would think I’d have a lot of reason to hate. My brother was murdered by a man who could get only 20 years in jail, being released well before I even consider retirement. My brother was taken the week before he was going to meet his first niece, leaving an exciting new chapter in my life instead marred by trauma and grief. My family is a mess as a result, and we spend our lives alternately smothering each other and just wanting to be alone. Oddly enough, however, I’ve found some serenity here. The only way I can cope with such terrible events is through forgiveness. I cannot let the man who took my brother’s life take mine, too. I can’t look out on the political world, or worse yet the warzone that is social media, and condemn other humans based on their differing beliefs. I’ve tried opening my eyes, and seeing other people’s points of view. Even when I find myself in direct conflict, I try to understand why the other person opposes me. When I cannot figure it out, I try to talk to them and work it out together.

Unfortunately, every day I see others letting their lives be ruled by hatred of other people. I can’t talk to my family, check Twitter, or read the news without it starting to dominate my life as well. This is my attempt to catalogue the daily hatred that I see- not to find pity or dwell, but in the hopes that those who read this can consider the daily effects of their hatred on themselves and those around them. An open dialogue between two disagreeing humans will always be more fulfilling than a war between demonized enemies.

Continue reading →