All forward motion will disappoint someone

​Yesterday, I shared a conversation I'd had with a friend who said she wanted to be able to create and write and share ideas without fear of judgment. She said, "if I can somehow convince my mind to be creative and forget what other people think, that would be a miracle."

I've thought about that a lot since our conversation. This idea that, to her, to be the real her, to freely share the ideas and stories that are in her mind and on her heart, that would take a miracle. To free herself from the cage of fear of what others will think - seems unimaginable to her.

The saddest part of that is, this friend has a beautiful imagination. It's an imagination that sees the best in the here and now, and finds hope in the future.

I got to wondering - what if she's not the only one who can imagine healing and freedom in her life - and in the world - but won't travel that road because of an imaginary line of people blocking it. People who might be disappointed. People who might be judgmental.

How many people do you see in that imaginary line in the road; how many do I see?

I wonder how much different the world would look if people created freely - if they traveled the roads in life they've been called to travel and not the roads that best avoid disappointing people, or angering them, or inviting disagreement from them.

How many of us are hiding from the people who will never have any interest in what we have to offer at the expense of people who truly need it.

And is it a numbers game? Is it truly worth avoiding the displeasure of 10 people we'll never be able to please at the expense of the 1 person whose life might be changed by the thought or idea or decision we've buried deep within us to protect ourselves?

Yesterday, many in the world were moved by a young poet named Amanda Gorman. Her inauguration day poem inspired many. Thanks to social media she became an instant star.

But Amanda Gorman has a speech impediment. She has a hard time saying words with the letter "R". Gorman said when she first started reciting poems in public at a young age, "I would be in the bathroom scribbling five minutes before, trying to figure out if I could say 'Earth' or if I can say 'girl' or if I can say 'poetry.' And you know, doing the best with the poem I could."

I find myself wondering this morning, what would the world have missed out on if this woman would have let her fear of being made fun of stand in the way of sharing words she knew in her heart only she could offer?

Many of us needed to hear what she had to say. We thank her for it. We applaud her for it.

And there are those who didn't appreciate it. Didn't applaud it. But they were never going to. Not yesterday and not today.

Amanda Gorman said, "I really wanted to use my words to be a point of unity and collaboration and togetherness."

She wanted it so bad that she refused to crawl in the cage of fear of what others might think - and climbed confidently up on an inauguration stage.

What do you want you words to be? What change do you want to forge? And when you think about those things, do you think about the people who will never accept them, or the people who may never be who they were called to be without them?