Nobody Follows A Superhero
So, how honest can you be with people and still expect them to respect you? I got two pieces of advice from my advisor when I graduated from seminary in 1989. One of them was: You can't be friends with your parishioners and expect to also be their pastor. Translation: You can't be REAL with people because they won't respect you if they see who you REALLY are. I thought this was terrible advice then. I think so even more now. In fact, I'm prepared to argue that people won't respect, much less follow, you unless you ARE real with them. And today I present Penelope Trunk as exhibit A.
