Being personal is being someone to another.

"What's so wrong about being personal?" says a slightly odd but the more sympathetic character in one of my beloved good-mood movies "You've got mail". And I couldn't agree more.

I like people. In the end, I think it should be all about people, personal relationships, being humane to one another. What's so wrong in saying I like someone, or I miss someone or appreaciate someone's company? Nothing. And I think many agree on this but the problem is we tend to be so cynical, or maybe just cautious when expressing these feelings. To be safe we want to start with "I know it's a cliché but..." or "It feels naïve to say this aloud but..." I think it's no cliché but quite the opposite. It's dangerous. It's dangerously honest for us to show we have feelings; living in this hectic, non-personal, calculating world where it's always cool to critize too much emotion but never the coldness we treat each other with.

I've got a problem: I want to be friendly. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, even though I know I do that once in a while. However most of the time I just want to be friendly and I try my best to act accordingly. I like to tell people they matter to me, or that I like them and I mean it when I say it. I like to hear it myself, too. The problem in the twisted world like this is that then I get misunderstood, or thought naïve, or too emotional, or what all there is and I finish the nice and get back to the cool. Has the world won the upstream swimmer, then? No way.

Yesterday I was suppoused to hold a speach - we all were - at a nice dinner with those who have been working at the student union board this year. As always, I got nervous, even talking to my friends and colleagues, when expected to say something meaningful. So I forgot most of what I wanted to say and regretted later all the things left unsaid. Now I am planning an "Ode to Jyyrät". If I get it done, I will post it here. It's been a great year and I've learned a lot, I've worked a lot, I've got a lot of new ideas. But in the end it's all about the people, and the people is what I will miss most. Personal, humane, a friend to another - there couldn't be better place to work in. It's not perfect and never will be, but I don't want to be cynical. There is always a lot to critize, but there is also a time to thank, and both of these should be remembered. Who lives out of pure critic, however cool within this world that would be? No one. But all of us live out of love, and it is hard to think some one who could say no to honest appreaciation of a friend.

Sympathetic is one of my favourite words and something I like to use of people who are that (even better is 'symppis' in Finnish). I guess I have got all the good ones as I use it often of friends around me.

First of all it should be personal.