Rude Awakenings

...At least, one of the many of them.

And the question I ask myself is since when and how I had begun to become so careless with the things people tell me.
It's always been a value I had always held dear -  that what people choose to confide in and to keep confidential is a privilege, and a right that I should respect.
When had they become careless words I tossed around without sensitivity towards that person?
When had they become such a breach of privacy?
When had they become my secrets to tell, to elicit, to bring up?

It seems to me that the older I get the more I'm supposed to value these little treasures; to value the intimacy of a relationship with a person in need of a confidant; to value the fact that this person holds you in the highest of regard to be able to entrust you with the things they hold close to their hearts.
These secrets should not be a "burden" I am to carry.
I am merely an ear; a mouth.
I am merely an empathy; a sympathy.

It is truly disappointing, really, that I had spun little webs of deceit.

It's time to revert to the way I have been; the way I should be.




Daily dose of cliche: Strike these feet of clay.