Frederick Buechner, in the introduction to his autobiography “Telling Secrets,” suggests that we must tell the secrets of who we are because “otherwise we run the risk of losing track of who we truly and fully are. And little by little we come to accept instead the highly edited version which we put forth in hope that the world will find it more acceptable than the real thing.”
We must venture to be honest so that we do not become something we are not.
We fear being honest about our struggles, thinking that it will diminish our connection with other people. In truth, it is the opposite. We become stronger by being honest about our weaknesses. It’s counter-intuitive. It’s risky. It is subversive. It takes trust and courage. But it is also good.
This message is an excerpt from an article by Jeni Grangaard that originally appeared in the February 2013 issue of Café. Gather ran it as “Telling the truth” in November 2019.
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