Fair warning, probably a bit of a ramble. Just trying to get my head straight about something.

I think that, as a culture, and I have no idea if it's just American culture or the world-wide culture of humanity, but we have issues with communication. In particular, about talking to others about what bothers us. I'm not talking about massive life-altering issues, I'm talking about peeves, communication problems, things that get under our skin. We don't want to tell other people that, we're afraid it will hurt them. What I can't understand is why we're so god-blessed scared. Why are we so scared of showing the raw parts of our souls to people who care about us, and who we care about? When did being mad or frustrated translate into perceived hostility or hatred? Why can't our emotions, even negative ones, be shown without fear of it deeply hurting someone? I mean... whenever I try to work out issues in my family, communication issues, mostly, it turns into a fight. Always, always, always. I never go into it wanting to fight, I just want to straighten things out so that everyone will stop feeling so bent out of shape. But it's like they think I'm going right for the jugular, you know? I don't want to hurt anyone, I really, truly don't. It's just... it's frustrating that they tell me to not keep things bottled up, and when I don't, they respond in ways that tell me that I should. It's very... upsetting.