Morning Glow

Just be a human being, for Christ sake.

On the mornings when our schedules are in sync, Carol and I watch Morning Joe on MSNBC as we did this morning.

The show is politically oriented and highly contentious. The host, Joe Scarborough, is a conservative, a republican who drives me crazy. He served in the House. He's the kind of guy who thinks he knows everything and everything about him, his body language, his tone of voice, his facial expressions tells you so. I want to smack him in the head every time I see him.

There is often lively debate as they pit conservatives against liberals and debate the issues of the day. There is a hard edge to it and the people involved are usually intelligent and well informed. There is often a hint of anger, sometimes it is even overt, and conversations are interrupted and switched right off the track.

You get the point.

Today they had a guest who has a son with Aspergers disease. Apparently he and his son travelled around the country experiencing stuff including meeting Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Sounds like a great story and I will probably read up on it. But that's not why I am here.

This guy talked about the trip and about his son and all of a sudden everybody on the show is talking about their kids. And laughing. And exuding warmth. The tone of the show changed completely because these people were being openly human. Exposing true emotion and laughing freely.

Turns out Joe has a son with Aspergers. He told a number of stories about him and you could see the love pouring out of him, the humanity, the emotion.

Others on the panel told stories about their kids and Carol and I were laughing right along with these proud parents.

THAT is what it means to be human. That is living. Not just the parent thing but the openness, the ability to talk honestly and expose your essence without fear of reprisal.

Everything else is just a game.

It is rare to see in settings other than family or very close friends. Because like a dog that's been beat too much, we spend half our life just covering up (thanks Bruce).

Work is the worst environment for truth. We all feel that we have to prove how much we know and how tough we are and we are damn sure not going to flat out trust anybody else. You end up with this weird and surreal environment where people are trying so hard to prove their amazingness that nothing is real. Every comment, every conversation must be questioned. And really what is going on is that everybody is trying to protect their fragile souls by projecting invincibility.

Absolutely ridiculous.

That and countless other situations and disappointments in life force us to shrink our true selves down to the size of a peanut because that size is more easily protected. Easier to cover up.

This is an eternal source of frustration for me because I am a sensitive guy and I want pure human interaction in every circumstance. Of course I have learned to play act and to protect myself but I slip up from time to time because sensitivity is my true, inescapable essence. And when I do slip up there is always somebody there to slip the knife in.

I have to assume that this stuff gets to me more than other people. Most people take the "suck it up" approach and I understand that. It's called survival. Both in the work place and emotionally.

It just annoys me to think how easy it would be to make life exponentially more enjoyable. Let's face it - we are all making $100,000 less than we think we deserve, we all sacrifice and compromise, we are all astounded that our adult life is nothing close to what we imagined as kids. Just think how much more pleasant today would be if EVERYBODY you dealt with was just human. Having the guts to admit they are not perfect, being honest enough to admit they are confused, being tough enough to admit that they are just trying to figure it all out.

Being honest enough to stop pretending to being something they are not.

This will never happen. It can never happen. But at least I started my day out with a smile in a place where I did not expect it and with an honesty from others that caught me off guard.

For that short segment I looked at these people differently. Especially Joe. I didn't want to strangle him for a change. I caught an unguarded glimpse into his true self.

Moments like that are worth the price of admission.