onions.

i told my friends about my summer stories and their receptions and reactions are something curious to note. you keep friends around you and they keep you around them. but it's at moments of crisis when you finally realize how your values and beliefs and innermost self are compatible, or, sadly, contradict with one another.

shrek says that ogres are like onions. they have layers. people are like onions too. we put on layers and layers of shields and we provoke tears just to protect ourselves. when we express our true self we're literally coming out naked, exposing every flaw and weakness to the beholder. we put our pride and shame aside just to be understood and accepted and respected as who we really are, or who we want to be.

i owe my gratitude to those who not only spare me their ears, but also open their hearts and try to make sense of everything that doesn't make any sense. contradictions in beliefs and differences in perspectives are not fearful - individual minds are meant to be different - it's judging that is truly fatal. it certainly feels like being stabbed at the front and skinned alive.