Sensitivity can be a good thing!

To experience and feel emotion and pain is what makes us human and shapes us. We are affected by so much in life that it is natural to have a wide range of emotion and to feel and express what we see and experience. As a child growing up I have learned from an early age that we are gradually taught by our parents, our teachers and all who come into our life. We are learning to be responsible, to mature and to deal with our feelings and emotions so we can grow up to learn to take care of ourselves when it is our time to leave the care of our parents and learn to care for ourselves. It is a learning process and it takes many years and a great deal of schooling. I feel we are affected by our surroundings, our experiences, our family life, our schooling and our friendships. Our way of dealing with living and making decisions is based on how we view ourselves and what we are trying to accomplish. I always felt that I had an inner strength that made me able to handle life's circumstances and challenges and gave me insight. My upbringing and what I learned from my family and all my experiences helped to make me have a caring way and to have feelings and to feel sensitive to my needs and the needs of others. I had learned early on that I should always respect others and to treat them the same way I would like to be treated. This is nothing special as we all wish to be treated nice and with respect.

It is very important to learn responsibility, respect, compassion, caring, understanding, commitment, empathy, pleasure, pain, human suffering, dedication, confidence, intuitiveness, trustworthiness and a will to succeed and never give up. These are all great attributes to have and are very common with someone who displays traits of sensitivity. I feel that I have lived my life to consider not only my needs but the needs of others as well and I never wanted to ever hurt anyone as I feel we are all touched by our actions and our words. I try to always think before I act and to always maintain calmness and a diplomatic approach to dealing with situations. We want to make good and lasting impressions in our life and it is better to reach out, help and extend friendship and offer positive reinforcement as opposed to negative because we should always be positive in our lives and have a good disposition.

I am a firm believer that if we live a life with good morals, integrity, religious belief and a positive outlook we will find that it will take us further and will enable us to make lasting friendships and earn us respect. I have grown to realize that having a sensitive side is a good trait to have and is not something we have to change. Sure it is important to have a tough exterior sometimes and to be able to let things bounce off us but to have a sense of caring and reaching out to others is much more important and is a character trait that people like and appreciate.

In writing this I was touched by the photographs I incorporated into this piece and wanted to write a little about what I thought of them in the context of my writing. When I saw the soldier protecting the little girl in the middle of all the confusion of war and seeing him comforting her and sitting and positioning her in a way where he is shielding her from harm and protecting her is such a touching moment and I can not help but feel for them both and think for that moment in time they are connected to each and the bond that soldier has for that child is so strong and so full of love and concern it just warms my heart and makes me realize that there is human compassion in a war zone and you hope that the child will be able to live a full and rich life and the soldier and the girl will have a friendship that develops through the years. I was also touched by the girl clenching a heart shaped ornament and holding it out in front of her and felt that was a wonderful picture to include. I also thought the picture of the boy in a thinking position side by side with the dog is a cute picture that illustrates the bond that a child has with a dog. All the pictures resonated with me and I felt they were perfect for this writing.

Having a son with special needs I have grown to learn his ways and what helps him and sometimes I may find I am still learning and trying to separate my feelings and distance myself from the difficult moments so I can teach discipline and how to speak in an authoritative way so my son can understand. I also do inject my sensitivity to his needs by also trying to understand what he is going through to cause him to react out and by trying to have empathy for him. I find I can be a truly better parent to him by understanding and helping him through the difficult times. I also find my son to have the same qualities I have learned and he is special in how he reaches out to help and I am quite impressed with this part of his personality and find this is a mature aspect of his development and we as parents, my wife and I are pleased. We want Matthew to develop a tough exterior also because he does tend to reflect his feelings and emotions at times and easily cries and I don't like to see him get easily hurt.

He will learn from us, his teachers, his friends and all who come into his life and he will develop as a person and I believe he will have similar traits that I have and it will benefit him because he is a kind and caring child with a heart of gold and I am a very proud father and am always sensitive to his needs and will provide him my love and support along with Maria's and also teach him to have a sense of purpose in his life and a positive attitude. He is a wonderful child and he has so much potential and he truly cares and has a side to him that warms our heart and makes us feel proud to be his parents.

Edward D. Iannielli III