Genuine, Honest, True

I was thinking today how many times the question of "How are you?" is answered with the simple response of "Fine." That is what is expected and accepted as an answer. I, too, have fallen prey to this ready answer. People don't really want to see the messy, struggling, troubled me.

But if you do respond with the truth, then you receive 'advice' on how to fix the situations in your life. There seems to be a wealth of standard answers for how to get things back in order. What if all we wanted were listening ears?

I feel caught in the middle of these. I don't want to give the answer of "fine" because I want to be genuine, honest, and true. Yet at the same time I get tired of hearing the standard responses. How does one balance these?

So, here I sit contemplating these thoughts and praying that I can work on my listening ears for others.