I am... (3)

I am a confidante

A woman with whom private matters

May be shared.

Your secret is safe with me.

I remember an adult

Betraying one of my confidences

When I was six years old.

They didn't mean to do it

It was just that my "secret" was so cute

They had to share it with everyone.

I was devastated.

I didn't understand why

I was supposed to keep their secrets

But they didn't have to keep mine.

It came down to respect

They were older and I had to respect them

I was a child and my secret was of no consequence

To them...only to me.

I'm grateful

That I learned that lesson so early in life

When the consequences were small.

I have always been a person

That people have felt safe to talk to.

I don't usually

Need to tell people that

I am not going to share their

Personal struggles with anyone else

They usually just sense it.

In college they called me the "Hypnotist"

Because they felt I somehow

Elicited their personal confessions and revelations.

"I swear I tell you things

I've never told anyone else!"

I guess it is okay

I won't tell anyone else either.

I'm here if you need to talk.

In my twenties I struggled

With the bulk and balance

Of information people had shared.

It became overwhelming

Keeping it straight in my head

What I was supposed to know

And not supposed to know

What I could share and not share.

It was then that I learned the value

Of being more discriminant about what I was

Willing to hear.

Gossip can be damaging

Even if you don't pass it along.

I like to help others.

I used my listening skills to

Work on suicide hotlines and

In crisis response and as a

Law enforcement chaplain.

I have heard things that people

Never wanted to have to say.

To claim friends as family

We bear each other's burdens.

Having someone share their heart with you

Can be a heavy thing.

It is not for the faint of heart or the weak minded.

To do it well

You can't just hear people at their weakest, worst moments

You have to love them there too.

Love isn't just a feeling

It is an action and skill

If you want to be good at itY

You are going to have to build a few muscles for it.

It is a worthy pursuit...

Practice makes peace.