Be Real

I have a pet peeve, actually I have many, but I’m only going to talk about one today.  It is sugary sweet, dripping with honey, fake people.  You know the ones…. their smile is plastered on, and every other word is “wonderful” or “wonderfully” as they go out of their way to tell you about how perfect every element of their life is.  They unnerve me.  It takes all of my strength to restrain myself from slapping them.  Don’t get me wrong, I like happy people and I like positive people.  I am certainly grateful for those moments in my life when I have been down in the dumps and a friend has pointed out the silver lining to my crisis.  I like smiling and love laughing and there is no better feeling of elation than sharing the excitement of life with others.  BUT… there is a big difference between genuine happiness and the overly sugary façade of fake fulfillment.  When people are over-the-top it makes me think they are merely using words to compensate for the unhappiness and un-fulfillment from which they are suffering.  It’s the same principal as the ever-popular joke about the man with the small penis who drives the fancy sports car. 

Overly compensating for something is often obvious to outsiders.  I wish these people would realize that happiness shines from the inside out and can be seen and felt without a word.  I wish they could see that fulfillment illumes the face and can be transmitted without an utterance.  Most of all, I wish these people would learn that it’s okay not to be the perfect, perky Pollyanna all the time.  It’s okay to have down days, sour hours and moments when you feel like you’re barely hanging on.  It’s okay to fail, fall down and make a few faux pas.  It’s life and it’s real and you can be too.  ~