Friday, April 4, 2008

Who Matters To You?

Who Matters To You?

"You don’t matter to me." I know that sounds cruel and uncaring but for the most part it’s true. I’m not trying to be crass or crude but I do believe I’ve discovered something that has brought me continued freedom and liberty.
The truth is very few people should matter to you. Of course, everyone matters to someone but not everybody should matter to you . . . at least not in the context I am framing this simple concept.
You see the people that matter to me are the people whose opinions about me cause me to change my behavior. In that context, very few people matter. The word ‘matter’ is derived from an Old French word ‘mater’ which is where we get the word ‘mother’. To mother something is to nourish it . . . therefore, the people who matter to me are the ones who ‘nourish’ me. This list is quite small.
This simple understanding frees an individual from being the slave of other people’s opinions and liberates them into becoming the unique individual God created them to be . . . not simply some product of another person’s opinion.
So, who matters to you?