Are my ears really that big?

Some food for thought:
Excerpt from http://www.domlife.org/BeingDominican/BECOMINGDominican/CommunityLife.htm

Community is a place where we can experience the sacrament of healing like no other. If you fail, your mistakes can be redeemed. If you're wounded by life, your sisters and brothers can be there for you. These are extremely reassuring thoughts in an uncertain world. Perhaps it sounds odd, but a good image of the reconciliation and healing that continually happens in any good community is the house of mirrors. A house of mirrors distorts our image of reality. "Are my ears really that big?"

Community can be like a house of mirrors if we are not loving and courageous. If we don't tell a brother that his temper hurts our common life and is self-destructive, then we're not living in community, we're living at the county fair. Likewise, if we don't thank a sister for her extravagant generosity, or congratulate her on something well done, then we're not living in community, we're living in a house of mirrors. Common life requires that we hold up an accurate mirror for a sister or brother, and that we have the courage to gaze unflinchingly into the mirrors that our sisters and brothers hold for us. This is the only way that we learn who we really are. The skills I've suggested can be summed up in three short sentences. Look to the future. Persevere in the present. Tell the truth. They could also be called hope, faith, and love, the theological virtues which improve the way we relate to God, ourselves, and our sisters and brothers. They are absolutely indispensable in common life. So, if you hope to enter a religious community and to share in the joys, hopes, pains, and sorrows of vowed life, start practicing. You'll find what you give in community comes back to you a thousand fold.