The Spice of Life.....

I have gotten to a place where I am in a "love me or leave me" frame of mind, because now I truly love myself independent of how people feel about me or treat me.  I am not perfect, but I am darn near close and I say that not with conceit, but with pride.  I have worked very hard over the years to get here and I am still working.  I have had to challenge some of my "own" thoughts for proof of authenticity only to find that they were really the thoughts of others, disguised as being mine.  My idea of perfect, is me being true to my thoughts, beliefs, accomplishments, feelings, spirit and yes, even my mistakes.  My perfect may be the polar opposite of yours, but that's okay.  I'm the only one that can be me and you're the only one that can be you.  That's what makes this world so interesting! Off the subject (or maybe not), I have never liked that saying that America is the "Great Melting Pot".  The premise is that we all come together bringing different things and melt together to make something great.  The only problem with that scenario is that each ingredient loses some of the properties that made them unique and/or different and are no longer readily identifiable.  I chose to see America as the "Great Salad Bowl".  Cheesy, I know, but hear me out. In a salad, all of the ingredients keep what gave them their "flavor". You can look at the tomato and know what it is, it tastes the same, it retains it's firmness, and texture.  The same with all of the other ingredients.  They keep what made them special and yet come together to make something bigger, greater and new.  The dressing binds them together, just as the flag binds Americans or a common goal or bond binds any group of people together.  The point: no one should ever feel that they have to lose a part of who they are in order to belong to a group.  Different perspectives ignite conversations and ideas.  I love myself, but if I went to a group meeting and everyone dressed or looked like me, spoke like me and had the same ideas... first, I would pinch myself to see if I was sleeping or in the Twilight Zone.  Then, I would run to the nearest exit and find another group.  Although, it would be a delightful group of beautiful, intelligent, caring, funny women each wearing a hot pair of shoes (wink.wink), I need variety.  After all, as they say "it's the spice of life!"

~I'm not sure if I got off topic, changed the topic or what, but this is where my mind took me and I went with it. I hope that you didn't get lost along the way : ) ~