Why I Wish You Were A Better Man
I know that there is something hiding within you that is worth me chasing after.
Josep Suria / Shutterstock By Kristen Buccigrossi
I have one simple wish. One screaming voice into the wind. One fleeting hope on a shooting star.
A message in a bottle thrown into the sea. A coin tossed into the wishing well. A wish made on all the birthday candles and dandelions you can find...
However many wishes it would take for you to be a better man.
I wish that you could act half as much as the man I know you could be.
The way you are with your family, the way you are with children, the way you are with your friends, even the way you are with strangers. Any way except the way that you are with me.
I wish that I could just have an ounce of the man that I know you are capable of being, even if it was just for a split second. Just to know what it was like to be with the man you can be.
I wish you could see the world through my eyes.
Think about how much damage you could prevent if you just thought before you spoke.
If you could just take a step back before you acted.
If you could just take a moment to see that you are not the only one out there suffering.
You are not the only one out there trying so hard to get by.
You are not the only one that has it tough, so why do you take it out on me as if you are on your own?
I just wish that you could see I was here for you, not to harm you.
I wish you could see your own potential. The greatness that I know is there inside of you, hiding away so the world can’t see.
Maybe you are afraid that if you show that side of you, you will get hurt.
Maybe you are afraid if you show that side you might not be accepted.
A list of maybes that I will never have an answer to, because maybe you are just too afraid to show me the real you.
Maybe, just maybe, I wish you weren’t so afraid of being with me.
I wish you could be the man that I hoped you would be. I know that you are better than the person you come off as.
I know that there is more to you than just selfishness and a cool debonair. I know that there is something inside of you that wants to be a good person, but there is also something that holds you back.
I know that there is something hiding within you that is worth me chasing after.
I wish in the future that you let that man shine through.
I hope that someday, you find that woman who makes you come out of your shell, who makes you feel safe and comfortable enough to be yourself.
I hope that one day you achieve everything that I believe you are capable of.
I hope that one day you see I was here for you all along and will always be rooting for you.
But for right now, I just wish you were a better man than you are letting me believe you to be.
Kristen Buccigrossi is a writer whose work has been published on Huffington Post, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Unwritten, and more. Visit her website for more.