PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Feedback often tells us as much about the reader, as anything. I find it helpful to think about that. If someone attacks a view point I have, it might be a worthwhile criticism, but what are they saying, exactly? If it's merely an attempt at insult, then it gives me an opportunity to learn no less than a couple of things:

(1) what this person's perception is

(2) understand that they probably don't have a very well thought out position, and therefore the exposure my have helped chip away a little bit at the veneer of their beliefs

(3) whether I might possibly be able to express myself in a way that disarms them a bit more, making them potentially more open to hearing the message.

But when you chip away at something, there will be anger. Erosion is a violent action, of sorts. Chip at a stone, and you might get a fleck thrown back at your eye. Perhaps why this person used the word 'vold'. But such "violence" - figurative - is as necessary as literal eroson is to a statue of one of history's monsters. We aim to be more gentle with people because we're not dealing with a monster of the done past, but rather with an ever evolving being of the present, just as we would be "gently violent" with an evolving, beautiful statue we are assisting in making.

Ultimately, their feedback is probably telling you a lot about them, and may be telling you little about yourself. Starting from a position of listening to the feedback as a voice from their pond, rather than necessarily a reflection of oneself off of said pond does make receiving harsh words a bit more palatable : )