Closer To Fine
Two young adults just trying to live their lives
So many terrible things are happening in the world right now, and there are two young adults out there trying to make sense of it all. My children.
How to live, what to hope for, whether to have a family. Will they ever own a house or have the means to purchase a car? Will they ever finish a college education that was once interrupted by the pandemic, and now by the need to work? Should they even contemplate these things?
“No, not right now,” I say.
It’s hard to formulate these words without my eyes full of tears, but they need to be said. So I suck it up because what my kids need right now is fortitude, not sadness, anger, or nostalgia. Fuck all this shit going down, I tell them. Absolutely fuck it. We have to keep going. We have to be clever and self-sufficient. We have to stay away from these people. They are clearly our enemies. They hurt the people we care about. They are sending our neighbors away. They are taking food away from children we know. They have taken a wrecking ball to our democracy and all we have known.
Believe what your gut is telling you, I say. Listen to the words being said. Do they sound right? If not, steer clear. You are not obligated to be kind or even polite. Those are their rules, not ours. You have permission to ignore them, to walk away, to remain silent. Find another companion for hiking to the top of the mountain. Enjoy your sandwich at the end of the dock, your feet in the water. But do not, under any circumstances, break bread with these people.
Above all, I say, do not squander your talent. Save it for people who know your worth and who deserve what you have to offer. Keep your money in your pocket if you’ve walked into the wrong place. Return that thing to the shelf, abandon the shopping cart, walk out of the store. Find it somewhere else, or maybe you don’t really need that thing, come to think of it.
The point: once you know you’re dealing with the wrong people, don’t fall in with them. Not financially, not emotionally, not spiritually.
Quietly divest them of power. Yours. When the good people they’ve always known quit doing business with them, and they are passed on the street without a hello or even a glance, they will start to understand. Or not.
It doesn’t really matter either way.
Just get on with your life, as it is. We’ll carve our own trail through this wilderness. Together.
A collection of Ellie’s paintings, Les Parfums de la Nuit, and Ben’s photos from the desert. Canvas prints available for all images. Profits go to some great Gen Zs. DM me if you have an interest.
❤️🫂❤️
What a great letter to your children in these times.