Tuesday, April 19, 2011

One Minute Writing: One way I haven't changed since I was 13

One of the blogs I follow is called The One Minute Writer. It challenges me to take one minute a day to try to write creatively. Today's prompt: "One way you haven't changed since you were 13."  Sometimes I don't have anything to say on a topic. Not so today.

Despite all the education and experience, all the reading and thinking, all the life lessons that should have taught me a thing or two, I'm still a total sucker for a sad story, just as I was at 13.

My mom tells me that, from the time I was a little girl, I was constantly dragging home "birds with broken wings" - both literally and figuratively - and that, no matter how lost the cause, I'd throw myself into trying to heal them and consider it a personal failure when I couldn't.

On the whole, I don't think it's a bad thing to be such a soft touch, but there are times when you just need to recognise that a cause is hopeless and move on to using your time and energy more productively. Goodness knows, there's no shortage of people who need love and support. And, sadly, some kinds of brokenness can't be mended by anyone except the person who's broken.

2 comments:

  1. It's so hard to know when to have that "soft touch" and when to walk away. I think it's nice to err on the "soft" side. :)

    -C. Beth (The One-Minute Writer)

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  2. I don't disagree, but there are times when it seems just a tad masochistic. :-)

    Thanks for taking time to comment!

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