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Beautiful Ruins

I'm just finishing Jess Walter's wonderful beachy read, Beautiful Ruins and I ran across this timely quote: "All we have is the story we tell.  Everything we do, every decision we make, our strength, weakness, motivation, history, and character-- what we believe-- none of it is real; it's all part of the story we tell. But here's the thing: it's our goddamned story!...No one gets to tell you what your life means".  No one gets to tell your story.  We/I devote so much to energy to who you/they/he/she think I am.  We/I try to improve upon or manage that perception.  In truth that's letting everyone else write our personal story.  The picture above is the outside me, the one carefully crafted with hopes to please, the me you see.
The picture below is a rudimentary sampling of what I actually see.  I don't see me from the outsiders perspective. I see life in all its wonderful and terrible disguises, all the time.  What inane purpose does abandoning our original vantage and adopting the story of others serve?  None that I can tell.

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Unknown said…
This is beautiful and vulnerable!
June 23, 2015 at 6:55 PM
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