Sticks and Stones

They say lots of things
and some of them are true.

They say love is blind
but it's them that can't see.

We're real but all that's
left of them is words

and words can't hurt us.

12 October 1994

What happened with J. and me? People happened. It’s people that usually happen in my experience. When F. and I broke up she got all the friends. I didn’t want any of them anyway. Well, maybe one or two but they came as a set. J. was, as I’ve mentioned before, on the periphery of my life but everyone who knew us knew her and when some of them found out she was in contact with me they did what people generally do, they interfered. Of course some of what they said was true—I’m not the hero of the piece—but truth isn’t everything. We’ve all told lies at some point in our lives but does that mean we’re all liars? No, it means were human and humans make mistakes. A weak person is not a bad person. Not automatically. And vulnerable people don’t always make the best decisions either. J. erred on the side of caution. She listened to the badmouthing. I don’t blame her. I don’t even blame them.

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