I used to think being invisible was the worst thing in the world But now I realize there are worse things than being ignored. It's worse when people can't shut up about you. When they're so uninterested in what you've gone through that they invent stories to justify their hatred and their ignorance. If you really want to know a person's story, do something so uncommon that it borders on the remarkable Just ask them. Give them the courtesy of your time and the grace of your ear and really hear what you've been so unwilling to hear And learn what you've been resistant to learn. And if you're the one who needs to be heard Tell your story regardless of whether or not it will fall on deaf ears If you don't step up and tell your own story someone else will tell it for you and they will get it wrong. You owe it to yourself to speak your own truth from the one and only person who knows it, who lived it. Those who have an agenda won't care Those who believe the worst about you won't change their minds. Those who love your enemies won't suddenly love you. But your story will be out there And it won't be changed to protect the innocent or altered to make the guilty look worse. It will just be yours. Your truth. Your experience. Your life. And that's what matters.
