radical honesty

I have not written about my adventures out on Matagorda Bay at the end of July. I went out with Bill Balboa, fisheries biologist for an article I'm writing for TX Parks & Wildlife on the new delta at the mouth of the Colorado River. It was great fun. I truly love adventures.

Here are some photos from the trip: Matagorda Bay

I've been thinking about how it is when someone misunderstands your intentions or just flat out doesn't like you. I have always wanted to live at peace with all people but sometimes it just doesn't matter what you say or do, some people are just not going to be happy or they're not going to like you. You're going to rub them the wrong way. It used to bother me but I keep hearing those words I used to hate, in the kind voice of my best friend Daline saying, "You're doing the best you can."

And you know, what I love about Daline and what I strive for in my own life is to try to accept myself as is, to love myself even with the parts of me I don't like or are in progress, and yet to not use liking who I am as a general person as an excuse to not move forward to improve myself for tomorrow. There is always room for improvement. And you have to look within because people unfortunately don't usually sit you down and say, look here is what I wish you would change in the way you interact with me. I think its cowardice personally to be a bit blunt because most people will just walk away from a relationship or friendship or acquaintance rather than just talking about how things really are. I mean, come on people! Let's just lay it all on the line.

I believe in radical honesty. I think that no matter what you've been through, there is no shame in living this human existence. The only way society has ever progressed is sharing the painful, deeper, more intimate truths and showing other people that they are not alone in the things they feel or have experienced. We are never alone, no matter how alone we feel. We can always choose to come to the table and talk about it, and share our pain, our shame, our sorrow and likewise our joy, our successes, our strengths, our lessons. We live in a human community and it's about time we realized it.