Growth

Bare tree limbs swaying
The warm heart grows cold in time -
Alone once again.

So this haiku I wrote just reminded me of a few reflective thoughts I've been having after dealing with some disastrous relationships (and some neurotic people). Now, this could become a huge philosophical and sociological discussion, but for the sake of time, I'll just focus thoughts on people, and image.

Image has become something that is more important that life itself to some people. The way others view them is more important than how they view themselves (their moral views, their personal opinions, etc.) Often times I come across, men and women both, who lay a web of disguises, lies, and half-truths to sway another's opinion. Now, although this may seem like a good idea for the moment (which could lead me to a huge discussion on how people are too focused on short-term gratification, but that's for another day), the deceit is always discovered, and the consequences of this are greater in magnitude than anything negative that might have come out of just being honest in the first place. If your general inclination is towards being an "ass," be an ass; if it's toward being a "whore," be a whore. What I'm trying to say here is be upfront about who you are - really deep down, who you are, separate from the perfect image of yourself you may have in your head. Now this isn't to say you shouldn't try to change something bad about yourself, but the first step to encouraging any change is to fully acknowledge the type of person you are, analyze faults, and devise ways to fix them. Denial is only hurting yourself. Accept criticism as a tool (and as a rule of thumb, if a number of people are critiquing the same "fault in question," they are probably right) - don't take it too light or too heavy, but do take it to heart in some form.

Just to summarize (mostly because I have a common exam tomorrow and lab at 8:30 and require some substantive amount of sleep): Don't sacrifice yourself - a chance to better you - just to appeal to the tastes of someone else. All it will create is hardship and heartache. Take my opinion how you will. The choice is yours.