But the truth is we all suck

You know that point in Pride in Prejudice where Elizabeth reads Darcy's letter and realizes for the first time that Wickham is a money grabbing cad?

I feel like that today.

Not all that long ago there was someone in my life, and I thought something might come of it. It was all very Victorian (or Edwardian or Recency...ish) -- looks and glances and hints, but nothing akin to a modern courtship.

And then one day he disappeared.

Naturally, being me...being female...being human...I wondered what I did wrong. I wondered what it was about me that didn't quite measure up.

And then I got over (well, mostly). It's not like this is the first (or second or tenth) time I've felt rejection. I've been down this road enough to know that eventually the sting goes away. And eventually the "But what did I do wrooooooooooong?" angst fades because enough time goes by for me to have enough sense to recognize and accept that it was a choice made by someone else; probably nothing I said or did would have changed the outcome. (Holy run-on sentence, Batman.)

Anyway, what does this has to do with Wickham? Well...not long after he disappeared, some new things came to light to make me realize that I dodged the bullet after all. The specifics don't matter. Not really.

But between thinking about this and thinking about another friend/ex who has unintentionally (and probably unknowningly) hurt me lately by just...well...being a single guy (and a cad), I realize that I'm not exempt from criticism, either. I've said things that maybe weren't meant as deeply as I thought at the time. I've jumped to conclusions too quickly. I've broken hearts myself.

The truth is we all suck. Me included.

I don't mean that to be negative; not at all slamming on myself here. I just mean to say that despite being hurt, I can forgive them for their humanity because I have plenty of my own.

And I can be stronger for all of that.