I don't do drugs. I am drugs. - Salvador Dali

Last year, at an art lecture in Spain, I learned that what influenced Salvador Dali to create his mind-bending masterpieces was not drugs, as it's so often assumed, but that he would sit in a rocking chair, letting himself fall asleep, and rig himself with a bell so that as he fell asleep, slumping forward, he would be awakened just enough so that he stayed in a state between consciousness and sleeping. You know, that place when you're not sure what was a dream and what was reality? And it was through that process that he created those famous dreamlike images. I found this little tidbit of art history absolutely fascinating, as I had always assumed that he was under the influence of drugs. Turns out, he was just someone as infatuated and inspired by dreams as I am.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about this because I think it's sad that people, myself included, judged Dali's paintings based on an assumption, missing the beauty of his true talent. Sure, it might have been the logical explanation, but it clearly wasn't the correct one. I seem to have a tendency to also be judged like this. People like to draw conclusions about me and my life, based on superficial assumptions of what they believe, instead of what the truth is. It's been rather depressing to have to deal with people's misconceptions of me and it's beyond frustrating because it's usually close-minded people who are too lazy to have a conversation with me so that they might know for sure what the actual situation is.

Maybe someday someone will give a lecture about my life and people will be properly surprised and ashamed of themselves as they realize how incredibly wrong they were. In the meantime... I can only do what I do and try my best to be kind. And maybe I will also, as Dali himself said, "Let my enemies devour each other."  EDIT: But the best thing that I can do is to simply forgive them and pray for them, as God has instructed us all to do. <3 I can only hope that I am also forgiven because I am truly sorry for the offense and hurt that I have caused, no matter how inadvertently it was.