One of the suggestions that I've learned over the years which still retains an incredible amount of power - it would contain an incredible amount of power if I bothered to heed its wisdom from time to time - is to "Love people for who they are and not who you want them to be." Intellectually? Makes a lot of sense. Emotionally? A little hard to swallow when all of the idiots who are clogging up the path that I want to take won't get out of my way.
It's not fair to anyone to have that load of expectations heaped upon their furrowed brows. People are fallible and flawed and they're inevitably going to fail us. I shouldn't put that pressure on anyone. I know I'm not doing it right in the eyes of millions. When I disappoint someone simply by existing I think: "Hey, I'm doing the best I can." I don't like it when someone is pissed that I'm not falling in line with what they want me to do. I try to change my behavior if I can make someone else's road a little wider but I'm not going to have much luck changing who I am.
We had a cat that didn't like to be held. She'd hop up on your lap if she was cold and wanted to warm up but even then she'd do whatever she could to stay just out of reach of your grabby hands - I swear that animal had a tape measure somewhere. Otherwise, she was fine curled up on the carpet. Every now and then I'd pick her up and try to forcefully hold her in place. She stayed put - she wasn't stupid, she knew who was the bigger of the two animals - but it felt like sitting with a coiled spring in my lap. I knew that the instant I released any pressure that she would be out of there.
That's what it feels like today when I try to make someone into something that they're not.
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