What Matters

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind. ~ Bernard M. Baruch

Honesty. I once believed I understood
just what honesty was…not to lie.
That of course, was the bold-faced kind.
Then I learned of more kinds of lies,
those that didn’t fit the mold.
Lies of omission, not saying what I might need,
what I feel, how I need protection
or just respect, the right to be.
To be wrongfully silent was to lie.
And lies to me, telling me how little I deserved,
how awful I was, how stupid, how clumsy,
how in-artful, how inept.
I learned that honesty
is speaking from the heart,
keeping clean my own street,
acting in love and respect,
doing what I need to do
when nobody looks,
without the need to hide
my gifts or deprecate others’.

 

turnabout-table