Oh, Saoirse, what a powerful analogy! What rich imagery! What emotion, such passion!

You are one of the gentlest, most accommodating and hospitable people I've ever met. The thought of any decent, respectable human being accusing--no, actually believing--that you are anything short of a great friend and treasure in life just strikes me as an absurd comedy. Like one of those weird dreams where people keep treating you as if they know something you don't, yet you're searching yourself, and them, thinking, "Are you guys serious? Okay, joke's over--where's the punchline to this prank?"

I mean, consistency is more powerful and convincing even than fluency in authenticity. Look at the best actors who just embody their characters (Harrison Ford and Jeff Bridges come to mind)--fluency doesn't guarantee legitimacy. It just completes a role, then the season changes and the weather's different. Consistency determines "normality", for each of us. Inconsistency in a person's persona, on the other hand, moves us to pity people, for never finding themselves, defining themselves, filling the full measure of their majestic creation as a human being capable of wondrous achievement and influence. Don't we associate inconsistency with immaturity?

I know somebody very special to me. We spent almost two decades together. While I can't claim "match made in heaven" or "soul mate" and retain honesty or legitimacy, I can truly say that the evidence was clear that, overall, we greatly enjoyed each other's company. But when my soul languished from the fast and famine I'd endured and hungered through for all my waking, sentient life--all to please others who wound up socially regarding me as inconsequential of their time, attention, or appreciation--I finally faced myself and asked the soul-searching question that can truly, deeply change lives: "Why are you doing this to yourself, Enseda? Why bend over backwards to satisfy people who 1) barely give you the time of day, 2) are so preoccupied with their own true interests that it's obvious what they truly care about (consistency, after all, determines authenticity), and 3) have never conversed with you long enough or deep enough to actually, honestly know you?"

So when I brushed off the dust and shadows that rendered me brass, and situated myself in better lighting for more accurate appraisals as true gold, I was perfectly amazed by how many casual, distracted bystanders suddenly stood up, pointed, and declared, "Brass! Brass! You're brass, not gold, pretender! Get back in your proper place!" I stared back at them in surprise, and laughed that same perplexed laugh. "Okay, people, joke's over. You've known me for how long? You've witnessed and experienced my luster, color, and properties. You know I'm gold. So why reduce me to brass--an attractive but less valuable imitation?"

The answer was difficult to swallow. They truly never knew me. Why? Because their attention was directed to what they most truly cherished. Once again, consistency determines authenticity. Passive perception can never equal devoted study. So anybody who claims so calls their own values and legitimacy as an appraiser into question.

People are who they really are. Truth shines. If uncovered, exposed to public view, it glows, even in the dark. And if you showing your true self offends some, their self-important desires and wishes are more important than your honesty and truth. You can never satisfy such people. Because they're only satisfied with their own wishes--which are products of their imagination, not of independent truth.

Back to appraiser school for them.

And off to the jewelry box for you.

There is no answer, to any question, that will satisfy everyone.