When People Talk About You

Someone told me yesterday that if I didn’t offend someone by noon then I wasn’t doing my job.

I don’t intend to offend people. But I do. I just want to underline the errors and highlight the truth. This is a very offensive sport.

It’s another thing though if there are people out there offended by me who used to be my friends. That’s tough.

I know there are conversations going on about me that are unkind and untrue.

I also know there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.

In fact, I tried just today to defend myself on a Facebook post where I was being talked about in a very negative, hateful way. I tried to explain my side of the story, and even included an apology for where I failed within the story. The reaction was vociferous. I deleted my comments and left the post.

Their minds were made up. There’s nothing I can do about it.

Haters are going to hate.

But, I find it very hard to accept. I find it very difficult to let people think bad things about me that aren’t true. I find it upsetting that people will talk about me when they don’t even know me or had a conversation with me. It’s one thing to critique what I draw and write. It’s another thing to swallow hearsay and rumor about me without considering there might be another side to the story.

I’m sure you know how it feels to be talked about hatefully without being able to defend yourself.

But, I’ve come to the conclusion: the only way to recover from this is to try not to do anything about it. I mean, if they come after me personally, I will defend. But there’s no point in going after them to get them to change their minds. Let them talk. Let them lie. There’s nothing I can do about it.

I and you… we will continue to do what we do nevertheless. We’re not going to let their pettiness stop us from being true to ourselves or true to the truth!

Am I right?