My Better Half

One of the things I find the most interesting about other people is that they're unpredictable sometimes. The predictable part of anyone is quite often nothing more than a label he or she has been forced to live up to in order to get by or to survive or to compete in life. But that's only half the story.

The other half of any person, the part that isn't labeled, is always up for discovery, if anyone's interested enough to do the work. That half is unlabeled because it's the part of any person where assumptions have no power. That's the part of people I like the best. The real part, not the part that fate or other people assigned to them in life. It's the part they choose for themselves. It's the part they'll defend with their lives. And it's always the best part.

I've got another half, too. The real part of me. That's the part of me that doesn't fit in a file folder or a box or a pigeonhole or under anyone's thumb. The part that can never be predicted because it's too dynamic. You can decide for yourself which is which because that's your job, not mine.

I already know which is the real me. It's the part of me I know and like the best. It's the part of me that still loves life and the part that still finds the universe worth exploring. But it's also the part of me that no one should ever mess with.

Once people discover that there's another half to everyone, they're on their way to realizing that the undiscovered half of a person is almost, without question, made up of many smaller parts. And they're the best parts of any person. They're the pieces you can't take apart.