How honest are you with other people about being yourself? How honest are you with yourself?

Even in high school it wasn’t a matter of “fitting in” by acting or dressing like other people said I “should.” I accepted that my independence had consequences, prices I might have to pay regarding popularity. But I demanded my independence. That means I chose friends who were willing to accept me for me. That also means me accepting others. This I did on face value. That can sometimes be a problem if people are good fakers. For the most part, others were honest with me; because I definitely chose to be honest, perhaps sometimes too honest. I was a gentle soul, doing what I could to avoid allowing myself to be forced, doing what I could to keep from forcing others, allowing people to be. That doesn’t mean they didn’t laugh at me when I was thoroughly embarrassed, realizing I was sitting in front of the boy who had “streaked” naked across the court yard an hour earlier.