To Meridith on Vulnerability
My friend, Meridith did a TikTok video yesterday asking some good questions about vulnerability. Apologies to her first for my flippant attempts to be humorous. They failed. And her questions did get me thinking. Every few months, the culture at large adopts one of these human qualities as a temporary mascot. Books are written. TED talks are given. Podcasts and videos abound. Just in the past few years, we've seen vulnerability, empathy, transparency, authenticity, and the old chestnut, passion become holy grail material in our pursuit of greater and greater levels of self-development. We've been told that for people to know like and trust us, we have to be these things, and there may be some truth to that. But at some point, it becomes an emotional manipulation and loses every ounce of virtue. I have more thoughts about this in the video, but stick around until the end and I'll talk about going off the diving board. Follow Meridith on TikTok. Here's yesterday's vid