Life is an education.
My first semester, I focused on the subject of people.
My first class was People Are Not What They Seem 101.
Some people are who I want them to be.
In that their behavior matches the story I made up about them in my head.
However, most people are not who I want them to be.
They're who they are.
So my first lesson was, "I don't understand anything about people."
They've gone through everything they've gone through.
Struggles, trials, tribulations, triumphs.
And I've gone through everything I've gone through.
I'd use all of that stuff for my first assignment.
I had to write a paper for class.
It was called "I'm Not Good Enough: They'll See The Real Me."
I got an F.
I failed to include the most important fact.
The fact that everyone else is just like me.
Everyone has to work hard.
At life, relationships, creativity, business, all of it.
Everyone has insecurities.
No one has it all together all the time.
Everybody is looking at me the way I'm looking at them.
"Oh wow, he's pretty {insert preconceived notion here} isn't he."
And I look at them thinking, "Oh wow, I can't do {insert past-based assumption here} as good as they can."
Everyone's playing that game.
We're all playing, but no one's winning.
The thoughts, words, moves, and strategies are bridges.
We're interconnected in ways we're only beginning to grasp.
It's not us versus them.
It's not that they're supposed to be here and I'm not.
We're all supposed to be here.
Because we are.
We're here.
To heal.
When we connect, we heal.
I can make revisions and hand the paper in again.
Time for a rewrite.