mulberryshoots

Sometimes people don’t see eye to eye. And sometimes, trying to explain oneself just makes things worse. That’s too bad because each point of view seems to be sincere and innocent. That is, nobody set out to make things difficult or hard to understand for the other. That’s what’s called a “misunderstanding.”

I’ve had this happen in my family. . . a lot, it seems. I used to chalk it up to a propensity for some people not to be able to admit that they were wrong. Or to take responsibility if they don’t feel that their intention was not amiss but somebody’s feelings got hurt in the process anyhow. Hard to take responsibility when you didn’t mean it in the first place when it turns out you’ve hurt somebody’s feelings.

I come from a place where I’ll take blame before anyone else — even more than my share of blame has been my impulse in the past. But lately, I’ve stopped doing that so much. I’ve come to a place where when I have been sincere and authentic, there isn’t much more that I can do to persuade somebody else different from what they want to believe: about themselves, or about me.

Friendship is made up of a zillion pieces of a mosaic like this. For someone who doesn’t have a lot of friends, my experience is limited. At my age, however, it’s probably more important to be authentic than it is to hold out for friendship. After all, isn’t that what friends are for?