A Flawed Man
Posted: Tuesday, October 25, 2011
by Bruce Horst
WryteStuff
I've enjoyed reading the 'Flawed' writing assignment submissions this week. I didn't really know how this assignment would go over, but I guess I should have figured that creative people are often very introspective, and the writers on this website are some of the most creative people I know.
I've been thinking about my own flaws. Make no mistake, I have many. I've spent a lot of my life suffocating under the weight of my own flaws, but I think I'm in a different stage of my life, now.
Maybe it comes with age, or maybe it's because of the people around me reminding me of my value, but I no longer think this way.
I heard someone say just last week, "there are no bad people, just bad actions." I'm not sure what I think about this statement, but it does make me optimistic that just because I've made decisions that have turned out bad, I'm not a bad person.
Maybe you're in a place where you feel flawed. Maybe you're in a place where you need to understand that those flaws don't own you, they don't define you. They're just a by-product of your humanity.
The fact is, we all have flaws, but they don't need to own us. They don't need to define us.
Next week's writing assignment will be more positive. It will be about what characteristics we possess that we are most proud of. I'm sure I'll enjoy reading those even more than the submissions to this week's assignment, but honestly I've enjoyed reading about this week's assignment quite a bit. We have a shared humanity, and we're in this together. Our best hope is that we stick together.
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Top-level comments on this article: (8 total)Good article Bruce, I guess most of us have had those same feelings at times...I know I have. But as we get older and consider those things, the truth begins to take shape. I have made some horrible mistakes in my life, many I would give anything if I had done differently. But they were done through my own ignorance and not because I wished to do harm to anyone, or that I was lazy and didn't wish to work. I have always worked with a zeal and my employers appreciated it. I just pursued the wrong things to have a successful career.Yeah, I think most of us have these feeling at one time or another. I've always worked with a zeal, too, but in the big picture, I'm not sure it matters.
Yes Bruce, we all have our share of flaws, we wouldn't be human if we didn't. good articleThanks for your comments, Dave. So at what point in our lives do we become comfortable that our strengths make up for our flaws? I'd really like to know the answer to this.
Good article!!!Thanks Reverend!
Hi Bruce.
Most of my working life has been spent in retail sales. Only recently has that changed. Working in retail, you get to interact with a lot of different people ... co-workers and customers. Early on I learned to separate the "bad" actions of my co-workers from my consideration of them as people ("Trisha does a lousy job of counting the cash registers and doesn't seem to care if they balance or not, but she will lend anyone a helping hand who needs it."). Extending that courtesy to myself has been much harder. :) I think we are (at least quite of few of us anyway) our most harsh critics. Because of that, I think I shall have a much harder time fulfilling next week's assignment. Guess I better start thinking about it now. Thanks for the heads up. :)
Hugs,
DianneI've been thinking about this for the last few weeks. Maybe I should have aspired to retail sales! There is so much I'd give to be able to extend this courtesy to myself. If you have figured out how to do this, please let me know.I haven't really figured out how to be so kind to myself. :) But ... I do find myself on occasion telling myself that mistakes happen and I cannot possibly foresee all that might go wrong.
When I first got started in retail sales, I thought it was just an interim thing to earn enough money to get my masters and become a med-tech (what I really wanted to do was forensic pathology). But life often gets in the way and retail sales became my life. It taught me more than I ever thought it might. :) But it isn't for everybody ... thank goodness. :)
So if YOU figure it out, you be sure to let ME know. :)
HUGS,
Dianne
"You're not flawed, you are full of features!"Nice, Jean!
I enjoyed reading this a lot, Bruce. It's wonderful to see how you don't believe those misconceptions about yourself any more. Inspiring!Yeah, it comes and goes. I sure wish I could figure out how to make it go.I know the feeling! Sometimes I have to settle for "it feels worse than it did yesterday but overall it's better than it was a few years ago"...
To see our own failings is a wonderfull gift, can you imagine that there are millions of people out there that never, ever do, Can you even imagine that? Unfortunately these tend to be the people that on the strength of their ego's become the leaders of men.
An extreme example is a man recently murdered in a drain culvert in North Africa. He was right, there could be no doubt whatsoever for him. He was right and the World was wrong.
What actually is perfection? Everything that we are not, or so it seems at the moment and worse, we seem to be hell bent on destroying it!
"Full of features", you are a lucky guy Bruce, not only is your wife beautiful, she is very smart also!Thanks Terrence. I sure wish that was enough.
hi bruce,
i enjoyed reading this article, and i liked reading some personal things about others in both the flaws articles and the fabulous ones.
i think we are all products of our environments, however, there comes a time when we need to use the minds God gave us and change some of the worse habits to better. if we've done so, we should be proud. i am also happy to have met so many generous and nice people through this site over the past 5 years. God does work in mysterious ways. I needed an outlet, and i found the best one. thanks to you and jean.
love,
sue!
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