What kills me most is that there never was a villain. No “bad guy” to blame for the hurt, I simply could not stay in the box you were content to live in. ~ Pride month brings out some of the best of humanity and some of the saddest of the internet 🤦🏽‍♂️ Blame feels good. There is a cleanliness to being able to point a finger at one person or thing and say “There! That is the problem.” But I have found that rarely is life that simple and rarer still does judgement solve the grander problem of reconciliation. Yes there is such a thing as being held responsible, but the older I get the less I find boogeymen in the world around me. Just people, trying to make sense of a existence that rarely does in the moment. Perhaps that’s why they say “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” The Bible verses thrown my way are as well-meaning as they are misplaced. But the saddest part to me is that there is a whole world of beauty, freedom, and possibilities available to each of us at any given moment. Life is not something to be feared but reveled in and cherished. And as one of my favorite theologians put it, another name for God is just “reality with a face.” The jailers exist only in our own heads and the bars have always been open wide. I wrote in my first poetry book and believe now more than ever, that each day the life leaves a love note upon our front door with the same words scribbled every single time: Come dance with me. ::::: What are the boxes that you are outgrowing?