It's a contradiction, isn't it? You feel that your speeches are performative and maybe even dehumanizing. Yet ... If somebody doesn't cultivate empathy, then nobody will be cultivating empathy.

Which ...

Public advocates and activists, of whom I've known more than a few, often struggle with feelings of inadequacy. I once knew a very famous man who spent the latter part of his life advocating in his own special way for queer equality. (His name was Quentin Crisp.)

Publicly, he was brash, bold, and very free about sharing the pain that he had lived with.

Privately ... he was terribly lonely and markedly insecure.

But almost until the day he died, he continued his public work. He needed the money, for sure, but he could have made it in different ways than by sharing his queer pain to cultivate empathy in others.

He wasn't pure as the driven snow, of course. Who is?

But he was doing the work of the angels. Just like you. Thank you.