So, I was watching TV tonight and one of the characters said “I like you just the way you are.” to one of the other characters and my first reaction was to think how sweet it was and how it was that very attribute that made that particular character so endearing – he really did accept all the other characters for exactly who they were. Not who they wanted to be, not who they someday might be, not who they pretended to be – but, instead, who they were. This combined with a reading I did tonight made me think about how nice it would be if we could really do that – just accept people for who they really are – not ask them to change, not wait for them to grow, not look forward to ‘someday’ but just look at them and know that they’re pretty swell just as they are and simply accept them for that. What a beautiful life that would be.
This is especially true for our romantic relationships. If we stopped wishing the other person would hurry up and be someone else – the someone else we know they can be or the someone else that they once were – we would all be less frustrated, less ashamed, and more loved. Isn’t that the true meaning of love? To really cherish the person that is and not the imaginary person that may exist or had existed at some other point in time? What about this person in front of you – don’t they deserve to be loved, too?
