The Reality Is...

Way back in 2000, I asked a friend from college to whom I had been quite close and active with in political matters to be a personal reference. He had this to say about my request:

I will do as you ask.

I could never refuse you.

Although if they ask me about [you] I will be truthful.

You are a disobedient wench who refuses to submit to the perverted whims of her master (as Vice Chair, you should have given in to my unrelenting demands for sexual favors).

You have the patience of a drunken sailor fresh from the brig released into a whorehouse on freebie night.

You are as dainty and charming as Torquemada the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition.

But, I will add that you will support anyone you believe in until the end of the world, and you are kind of cute.

Miss you.

When I first read the email, I laughed out loud and thought "HA! That shit is hilarious!" And I can see you - you're laughing too, holding your gut, shaking your head, saying "yes, yes!"

The personality traits this friend describes are ones that I have always struggled with. Actually, I don't remember a time when I wasn't confronting or attempting to temper these parts of myself. And I can count on my left hand the number of people that I've known in my lifetime who openly appreciate - even revel in - my unwillingness to be quiet and demure merely for the sake of convention. On the surface I look and even act a bit conservative and pedestrian, but I'm actually pretty liberal and quite loyal. They're strengths and weaknesses all wrapped up into one big complicated package.

You're shaking your head, agreeing out loud again...