“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” ~ Leo Buscaglia

Let’s close our screaming mouths for a moment and open the soft ears of our souls.

I’ve got a burning question:

Is not giving a f*ck an ideal worth striving for?

I truly don’t know.

In this past week alone, I’ve seen Mr. I Don’t Give a F*ck’s bold body jump across my computer screen in countless articles and Facebook status updates.

And, yes, he’s very dashing. With a cigarette perpetually hanging from his luscious lips and long, dark hair that catches the light perfectly, he zips up a ripped leather jacket and jumps recklessly onto a black motorcycle.

And, sure, he’s sexy, but he’s not for me.

His blasé, careless attitude is less than impressive.

I’m not falling for it.

But, more than that, I feel like saying “f*ck it all” (while seductive) can actually become a strategy to suppress our emotions.

It can become a façade.

It can become a super-secret hiding spot.

I know this because I’ve done it.

After all, aren’t we most apt to say “f*ck it” when we do in fact, care a lot?

In my experience, yes.

It’s easy to hide vulnerability and fear under wild screams declaring how little we care.

It’s easy to put up smokescreen of “I don’t give a f*cks” and present a less-than-genuine version of ourselves.

It’s easy to papier-mâché false freedom across our faces, when beneath it all, we are sad and scared and struggling.

But, sooner or later, the truth always leaks out from under our shiny masks.

Thank goodness for that!

Because bitter as it may be, the truth is beautiful.

Because—really, if we think about it, maybe the world doesn’t need us to scream how we don’t give a flying f*ck.

Maybe it needs us to care more intensely, more completely, more profoundly—about ourselves, about others, about the fleeting preciousness of this life.

Maybe it needs us to rip off our sparkly satin facades and reveal beautifully vulnerable, bleeding, trembling hearts.

Maybe it needs us to collect countless buckets of tears and dive deep into the salty seas of empathy and compassion.

Maybe it needs us to believe that being caring is badass, bold, and breathtakingly fierce.

Maybe it needs us to see that having the balls to feel our feelings is true freedom.

Yes.

Maybe, just maybe, the world doesn’t need us running around, half-heartedly screaming that we don’t give a f*ck, especially if we don’t really mean it.

Because, whether we like it or not, whether we want to admit it or not, deep in the core of our beings we all care.

We care a lot.

That is what makes us human.

That is what makes us beautiful.

So, if we are to cultivate something, let us cultivate caring.

If we are to scream about something, let us scream about caring.

Let us scream about compassion.

Let us scream about healing.

Let us scream about love.

All else cheapens the whispering wisdom and oozing love that resides within our  souls.

Let us be courageous enough to care about life, deeply and profoundly, with every trembling fiber of our beings.

Let us be courageous enough to give a f*ck.

 

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Relephant Reads: 

This is for the Women who Don’t Give a F*ck.

This is For the Men Who Do Give a F*ck. {Adult}

 

Author: Sarah Harvey 

Editor: Renée Picard

Photo: Eliza on Flickr