Approval and “Likes”

Recently I found out that I can buy Instagram “likes.” I love to be loved! I enjoy approval!

Still, it’s plain to me that being desperate for approval harms my soul.

A couple of people whom I respect have told me they cannot publicly celebrate things I write because it could jeopardize too much, too fast. Some even feel they are in a position to connect with folks in their circles who may not be far from following them out of the morass of misinformation and small thinking.

Others are simply processing, conducting self-inquiry, and honestly reconsidering.

Then some appreciate part of what I write but don’t want to appear to support all of it, which is understandable, too.

Sometimes I’m just wrong, or unclear.

Then you also have precious individuals who claim that my thought does not jibe with their religious values, but I hope that they will see, sooner than later, that it might the idea of a comforting community that keeps them where they are, a community that may not even see them, and even when they come together they have to leave a huge part of themselves at home, maybe even in a closet.

And there’s one more category that includes people who may not want to “like” at all, as they are disturbed by what I write, deeming it too “radical” and they know that if they enter a discussion, it might expose that they are not the allies they present themselves to be.

They still want to be “friends.”

By entering a dialogue it could lead to their expulsion from circles I have no interest in joining, not even if I were getting paid.

I’ve got to take care of my soul.

Brittney Griner,

we love you.

Brittney Griner, we love you.