Let It Go, Loser

Today I'm grateful to be somewhat more sensitive to others than I used to be (a/k/a to not be an asshole).

When I think of the top ten things I've ever hated people saying to me, I think somewhere in the top two has got to be "Let it go."

I knew a Britishman in New York who used to encourage me to speak my mind only to turn around and say to me, "Oh, for God's sake, stop swimming upstream! Just roll over and float!" Even though he was a loathsome philanderer, albeit married to a bitter woman who refused to be happy, at the time he was my "friend," and I didn't know any better than to speak completely to anyone who asked me how I was. Later I learned the phrase, "Bite me" and I believe that ended our conversations quite thoroughly.

"Let it go" is not something you say to someone you care about. You may as well say, "What a stupid thing to think about!" or "I just asked 'what's up' because I want to LOOK compassionate, not really BE it." Or "I really just want sex - can you obsess on your own time?"

If, the next time you're listening to someone you regret having asked a question of, you find "Let it go" floating around your neural pathways looking for a place to exit, please, for the love of god, get creative - think of a preface before you unleash this cold and thoughtless phrase. Something like, "Wow, I'm sorry to hear about your predicament; sometimes we just have to try to find a way to LET IT GO eventually." Right?

Because I believe that if they could let it go, they would.