I don't know how to make him see in himself what I see

It might be my lot in life, surrounded by people who shine brilliantly, but walk as if they were clothed in shadows, as if they need apologize to others for existing.
I love my friends, and i see beauty in them. I see honesty and determination and courage and grace and trust. I see people who aren't going to give up on me, people who want to make the world a better place, want to give hope to one more person, want to see people cry less and work together. I see the frailty of humanity grasping for something better, reaching for something that's worth living for. I see people who give me a reason to believe that the world isn't full of selfish bastards, but contains some of the most vulnerable, struggling, *real* people I could have imagined, and I get to call these people friends.

But they... (not just one or two, but "they" as a group that includes too many of them) they don't see these same things in themselves. Oh, they see the cracks that prove they're broken, but they don't see the light that runs out of those cracks and reminds me that all is not loss. They see the pain, but they don't see that they themselves are part of the reason I don't hurt like I used to, part of the reason I'm able to live with the suffering for one day more. They don't see that they are an integral part of why I can keep living. Of why, no matter how hard things get, I always remember that I'm not alone, even in the darkest moments when I feel that the Creator has forsaken me. They don't see that it's my relationships with them that allow me to feel love, and it's that love that provides the bandage and salve for the wounds I've been given by others and dealt by myself.



They don't see it, and I don't know how to let them.

I don't know how to love them *for them. I love them for me... I love them because I can see past the imperfections that are all too glaring in their own minds. Because I see how much they are worth and know how important they are to me, and to others.

I love them.
And i don't know how to make them believe me when I say that.
And it makes me sick.