I look at those ads with flashing gifs of Bush and Obama asking "Did he screw up?!" much differently than I used to.
Turns out that when you're in the public eye, you tend to get a lot more scrutiny than you do if you live the life of a hermit. People recognize me, and I try my hardest to return the favor. People judge me, but not for the things I expect. Over the last couple of years, if you had asked me ahead of time, I would have expected to be judged (for better or worse) on my hedonism, easy going nature, and intolerance for unkind people.
That's not how it happened at all.
Turns out I was judged for the stuff I have, whether or not I gave people what they thought they "deserved", (everyone's definition is different, though it generally has to do with time and money) and my successes or failures. Few people seem to care about who I am or what I believe. Effort and intent is nearly meaningless - only results matter. I am both loved and hated far, far more than I deserve credit for.
Most people have tried to befriend me based on what I have and judged me on what I do or don't do FOR them. Some of them are just happy to be nearby. Some of them want the world. Most people are content to say "I know a guy", and that they might be able to call in a favor one day.
I can't really blame them, though, because I've certainly done the same thing from time to time in the past. I'm not sure that I would as much now, but I get it.
The people I surround myself with are the ones who clearly give zero fucks about what I can do for them. People who live their own lives and have their own goals. People who follow their own dreams, no matter how crazy or simple they might be.
Turns out that both of those presidents may just be men who made some good decisions, some bad ones, and were trying as hard as they could to make things right. I might detest some of those decisions, but now I mainly see them as men. Just men. If I met either of them, I now think I'd be far more interested in who they were than what they did.
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