I've been told

I've been told by several that I am brave. The similarity between a brave person and a non-brave person is that they both have fear. The difference between the two is that the brave person chooses to do it with fear. If you were able to see all of the fear I hold in my being and compare it to the actions I've taken, you would see that I am not brave. It's my goal to be a brave person, but inaction is so much easier than doing it with fear.

I've been told a few times by various people that my writing has made them cry. My advice to these folks is to stop chopping onions while reading The Real Pretend. 

I've been told that I make people smile or laugh like a patient breathing nitrous oxide at the dentist's office. That makes me happy, because I want you to take a break from the seriousness in this world and show your computer screen some teeth from that grin of yours. 

I have not yet been told that I am offensive (except my mother once commented on a word I used). I like to tell the offensive truth in person, so that way you can see that I love you, and so I can hug you after I speak words that may rattle your being. I do not do this often, because I am just as afraid to speak the offensive truth as you are to hear it. It's so much easier to go on in this life pretending that our choice of actions and inaction are not what is driving us to the edge of a rocky, 90 foot cliff.

The offensive truth might damage your social life, your spending habits, or your self-confidence, but the truth that people are afraid to speak is also the truth that will save your life.

I've been told.