A love letter to feelings
My dear brother shared an emotional text that he had written. I told him that I liked it very much and could truly feel the emotion he conveyed with his words.
"Thank you for caring when it comes to feelings," he replied.
Nicely said, but also a little sad, as it's not a given that others truly care when it comes to feelings, perhaps even less so when you're a man.
Feelings are supporting actors in a life where words and actions have the leading roles. Of course, these protagonists have important roles in our lives. We can't demand a raise based on a feeling, expect funding by presenting an intuition, or let a doctor perform a heart transplant based on a hunch.
But feelings still have an undeservedly small place in our lives. Even when feelings are asked for, it's not really what people want. A question like, "What's your feeling?" expects an answer along the lines of, "Based on the statistics..."
We can't let feelings take over completely; that would be chaos. But we can give them more attention and space – both when it comes to ourselves and our fellow human beings.
We can strive to create a world where feelings are acknowledged and valued, where emotional expression is seen as strength, not weakness.
That's how I feel.