The harder they fall...

Someone once told me that they held me on a pedestal. I’m not sure if he meant to impress me with that, but in reality, it scared me to death. I remember my response to him, “Please don’t.”
 
You see, if someone is held on a pedestal, she is looked at with awe, with great regard, almost with perfection. The thought of someone holding me in that space made me very uneasy. I’m human. I’m going to make mistakes. I’m going to quit things, change my mind, mess up. I’m going to hurt you, because humans hurt each other, even if they don’t mean to. I’m going to do something that breaks that image you have of me. I’m going to remind you that humans aren’t perfect.

And when those things happen, the person on the pedestal falls the hardest because they have the longest way to drop. The person holding up the other person experiences even greater disappointment because his image of perfection is being destroyed. He won’t be able to control the situation and mold me into the thing he believes I should be without me experiencing just as much pain and disappointment. And when his image of me shatters, he probably won’t stay because he hasn’t fallen in love with me at all, but instead some illusion of what he wanted me to be.
 
So please, don’t ever hold me on a pedestal. I am human. I will mess up. I will disappoint you. And that’s exactly how it should be. Hold me alongside of you, never above and never below. Walk with me, not ahead or behind. There will be times where we may walk out of step, but in the words of the great Bruce Springsteen,
 
“We swore we'd travel darlin' side by side
We'd help each other stay in stride.
But each lover's steps fall so differently,
I'll wait for you
And if I should fall behind
Wait for me.”