You do not have to be good

The poetry of Mary Oliver enables me to see the world anew.

Reflecting on the 'apologies' of John Mayer and Tiger Woods I wonder how much of those events of self denial, self admonishment and self loathing were inspired by neediness, the desire for acceptance and the want to be liked?

In my mind truth was sacrificed on the altar of commerce and media acceptance/popularity by both Mayer and Woods.

By stark contrast Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mary Oliver's words are a war cry for truth and liberation. They are a song celebrating the beautiful complexity of what it is to be fully human:

"You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves."
From "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver