EXERPTS FROM LEARNING TO FALL – ok

As I see it we know we’re truly grown up when we stop trying to fix people. About all we can do for people is to love them and treat them with kindness. That goes for ourselves too. That goes for ourselves especially. I’ve given up on self-improvement. Fact is, my character is pretty much set, and even if I was in perfect health I would have to accept the following truths: my desk will always be messy; I will never stop being bothered by other people’s errors of grammar; I don’t find badly done children’s school concerts "cute"; I pick my nose; I notice beautiful women; I can’t stand laziness, whether physical, moral, or intellectual; I cry during sappy father-to-son moments in movies; I will stop almost anything to watch my daughter brush her hair. For better or worse, these things are beyond fixing. Accepting ourselves means accepting the whole package, the whole sour and sweet, lovely and larcenous mess that we are.