Get real

Be real...I said earlier.    I don't know if I was raised differently from most of you but I do get tired of false politeness in the name of manners.

Don’t just be polite I want to say snidely as I try to maintain my grace. Don’t just be polite. Tell me for real, from your heart.  Say I do or I don’t want to, whatever other unspoken words you are smothering.

Don’t just be polite I shout.   ‘Say it with a smile’ has no roots in my understanding or place in my heart.

If what you have to say is serious, a smile is not fitting.  Let's get real.  I want to hear how it really is, who you really are, so that I know how to survive in the draw of your presence.

The humanity of person-ness is the grace given to use to survive.

I want to tell you

That your bright conventions

bleach our minds

and dull our brains and speed

the down ward spiral to numbness,

That hoarse whisper of oblivion

And I want to say

Remove the tape of habit from your mouth,

remove the chains of silence from your voice

speak word neither angry or faint,

but firm with the knowledge

that you will not be ignored. 

For when we all part from this place how do we want to be remembered, for how polite we were or how we flourished?