On earnestness.

I recently vowed to be even more earnest, as a sort of counterweight to the meanness and cynicism that can seem like our collective default mode. In doing so, I was aware that the cost would be that I’d sometimes feel foolish, trusting others who are not similarly earnest, and once in a while being taken advantage of by the meanies.

What I was less prepared for was the more tender vulnerability that comes along with earnestness. When we are sincere, and motivated – not blindly so, tra-la-la, but as a conscious intention – our armor is off.  We can run faster, see more clearly, breathe more freely. It is a tremendous and magnificent accelerator.

But when we are not armored-up, we are also more easily bruised. One mean spirited question, one unkind judgment, one misplaced assumption, and the earnest ones are dented a little. It is hard not to respond to meanness with meanness, to judgment with more judgment.

Dear ones, there is so much we care about, and the more we care the harder it is to show it to the world. We want to protect our caring, to wrap it up so that it stays safe.

But when our love is safe, it’s also invisible.

Honeybees, whatever we love, let’s show it just a little more earnestly.

The arrows will come, but we can take it.

Love is tough that way.