Pedestals
Putting people on pedestals is dangerous. It is dangerous to put them there. It is dangerous to be put there. It is lonely up there.
Way up high in the stratosphere sitting on top of the roman style pedestal.
There are no friends or neighbors.
Just the person.
Alone.
No one to talk to them.
They oversee everyone below them. They look down. They never have someone to look them in the eye to keep them accountable. They are unapproachable. They do not talk. They dictate. They demand. They push. They are above reproach and if nothing else, they are dominant.
I am not on a pedestal, that I know of, and we will all need help if I ever am placed on one.
However, I put people on pedestals at times. I recently had a breakthrough in putting people on pedestals. They were left in unhealthy situations where more was demanded from them as they sat on their pedestals than they were ever going to be able to deliver.
The hardest part about being on a pedestal is the way people are left to be nigh unto perfect on their pedestal. They will always fail when they are up there. They will never be perfect. However, when I bring them down, I can all of a sudden, I can make a friend. A colleague. A peer. A teammate. A human to work along side.
When I pull people from the pedestals in my mind, they are able to be more human than I ever thought.
Who do you put on a pedestal? How can you humanize them? How can you give them a new chance to succeed, as a human?
Humanizing,
—JT