People let you down.
This is one of life’s great truths that gets harder and harder to swallow the older I get, probably because the older I get, the more trust I build with people.
All to have it torn down in an instant.
And it’s not always the people that we’re closest to that let us down the hardest; it’s quite possible that those who are far from us that we put our hope in who can let us down event harder. I’m talking about those we follow, idolize in the media or trust in faith - our heroes.
It’s these people, who have no knowledge that I (or you) even exist, who can turn our worlds upside down at the drop of a hat. It’s happened to me multiple times with different writers and musicians. I follow their art, taking it in and trusting it, building certain aspects of my own life around things they have taught, and then what happens? They change their mind, their faith or their thoughts entirely, shattering everything I ever thought about them and what may or may not be true.
And that feelings sucks.
This recently happened to me again, and I’m still figuring out how to handle it when it happens because it will undoubtably happen more throughout my lifetime. For now, I’m going to try not to take myself too seriously, along with others I put hope in, and I’m going to try to extend more grace. More grace because we are all human, and we all let people down, every day. And as I let those down around me, I can only hope that grace upholds us all.
-Cliff
Cliff’s Note: People let you down. Grace builds you up.