You are what you seem
Over on the Folk of the Fringe, Zenobia posted a 1977 article from the NYT - What You See is the Real You. I particularly like this quote:
I have been thinking about it off and on ever since I read it last night.
Over on Dumpster Dive, I asked Randy if he ever felt like a fraud - like all of us say wonderful things to him that we really believe but that he discards because he knows what he's "really" like. He said he feels like a fraud all the time. I feel like that all the time, too, which is why I asked him about it.
I'm rather active in the Disaffected Mormon Underground. I try to help people who are coming to grips with the idea that the LDS church is not only the shiny happy story they've always heard about from the missionaries. Sometimes these people are angry, and bitter, and mean. Sometimes their marriages are at risk. And sometimes, I help.
Lots of my readers and on-line buddies here and in other places say really nice things about me, to me. Until just yesterday, I just assumed that if they knew the "real me," they would know better. But now, I think that how I seem may actually be the real me. Which would make them right.
Twelve months of therapy...and this has been almost as helpful. Go figure.
By the way, I'm feeling much better. Thanks for the kind thoughts.
You are for the most part what you seem to be, not what you would wish to be, nor, indeed, what you believe yourself to be.
I have been thinking about it off and on ever since I read it last night.
Over on Dumpster Dive, I asked Randy if he ever felt like a fraud - like all of us say wonderful things to him that we really believe but that he discards because he knows what he's "really" like. He said he feels like a fraud all the time. I feel like that all the time, too, which is why I asked him about it.
I'm rather active in the Disaffected Mormon Underground. I try to help people who are coming to grips with the idea that the LDS church is not only the shiny happy story they've always heard about from the missionaries. Sometimes these people are angry, and bitter, and mean. Sometimes their marriages are at risk. And sometimes, I help.
Lots of my readers and on-line buddies here and in other places say really nice things about me, to me. Until just yesterday, I just assumed that if they knew the "real me," they would know better. But now, I think that how I seem may actually be the real me. Which would make them right.
Twelve months of therapy...and this has been almost as helpful. Go figure.
By the way, I'm feeling much better. Thanks for the kind thoughts.
2 Comments:
I have met the real Nanna and enjoyed the content of your posts on many boards. I can tell you that the real you is a very nice person to know.
You are a kind, loving and fabulous person who is liked by a whole bunch of people who have never laid eyes on you and I guess you are just going to have to live with that!
Can you handle that?
-Lori
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home