Tough Love

He needed “tough love”.  It seemed to be the consensus opinion and so, of course, he had to presume that it was right. 

It was strange, he thought, mildly confused, that none of the people proposing this had ever come to him for this “tough love”…they came to him, make no mistake, he was, he was often told, a good listener and some one who held confidences with fierce loyalty; he was, he was often told, a soft and healing place to fall…but, it seemed, he must have had it all wrong. 

And being so sure, he realized that they must have been getting their “tough love” elsewhere all along.

So it seemed he had failed them.  He had failed himself.  He needed to pull his head out of his ass and shake it off…that consensus opinion again…grow a pair and stop looking for a soft and healing place to fall.

Yeah “tough love”…took him a while…a long while…but maybe he finally understood.  Keep your head up…keep your doubts and fears to yourself…be strong and invulnerable…don’t cry out loud…don’t be surprised when your foolish confidences are turned into weapons against you…be too busy soaring to bother looking for someplace to fall.  Give and, especially, take “tough love”…it’s what’s needed, consensus opinion can’t be wrong after all.  It was, he realized, good information to know.