Fault Lines

I am writing again off of a prompt from scriptig.org (details at the end of this piece). I was a little lost in what I wanted to write and how to write it. Then I had an amazing conversation with my dear friend Jacob, let the conversation stew a while, and... well... let loose with this stream of consciousness.

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We are all at fault.

We are all at fault for ignoring our wants and needs while catering to the wants and needs of others; for ignoring our dreams in an attempt to dance to what others deem as “right.”

We are all at fault for being everything to someone else and nothing to ourselves.

We are at fault for denying our feelings; for obfuscating the internal voice that says, “I am here. Please hear.”

We are all at fault for forgiving every wrong done to us, every wrong but the wrong we self-inflict; for seeing the best in others and only the worst in ourselves.

We are all at fault for pushing others to exceed limits, yet placing boundaries on ourselves.

We are at fault - concerning ourselves - for not being gentle; for not understanding; for being judgmental and intolerant and impatient.

We are at fault for lying to ourselves; for telling ourselves we don’t matter as much as others; for giving our love away before we figure out how to apply it to the person in the mirror.

We are at fault for seeing beauty in everyone but ourselves; for finding ugly the bodies we've been given to use; for hating our own voices.

We are at fault for using all our energy to fix everybody else without first fixing ourselves; for thinking it is selfish to give ourselves any attention; for disallowing the latitude we need to heal, mourn, rage, fight… change.

We are at fault for not following our passions because they might not be what someone else wants for us, or because they might not fit in with "normal," or because, all the gods forbid, they frighten us.

We are at fault for being afraid of what we have no control over anyway; for letting our fear hold sway.

We are at fault for not valuing our lives; for not realizing the importance of our being here; for disrespecting the impact our very existence has on other lives.

We are at fault for using words like blame, guilt, and, yes, fault, instead of words like responsibility, sensibility, self-accountability. There is a difference. A vast difference.

The fault belongs to all of us.

But it doesn’t have to stay that way.

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For the Scriptic prompt exchange this week, kgwaite gave me this prompt: The fault belongs to all of us.
I gave Kurt this prompt: It was the middle of Summer and still 80 degrees at midnight.