I cannot help but feel fundamentally wrong about how I view myself most of the time. Too inflated, too deflated. It swings about wildly without regard to multiple past events most days. Where will I be in a year? It’s such a long time but yet simultaneously it has already happened. I am already an old man, reading this aloud to multiple generations, or to myself on a cold night somewhere alone. Or worse, no one reads this at all, or still worse, you, reading this are one of my closest family or friends and I have perished before my correct time. Whatever the condition, it is of no importance. We’re all really grains of dust hanging in the air, suspended for only a moment in space.
Remember this thing: love somebody, each other, yourself. Don’t be scared, because fear is ultimately useless. Whatever is going to happen, has, in a way, already happened. You, reading this are already dead and gone and forgotten. Terrible things happen all the time, the most we can hope for is that they all happen in order. That fathers die before their sons and pets never outlast the children who grew up with them.
The world and everything in and around it are bound to the pendulum of entropy, and the machination both powers and kills it.
Savor the small victories. Every single thing that makes you joyful, happy, hopeful, excited, aroused, gleeful, serene, etc, should be savored and appreciated. Don’t wolf it down in expectation of more. That might have been the last bite.
In the same manner hardship and trouble can be savored. How nice is an argument compared to total, utter, nothingness. But do not dwell on ill. Allow yourself to experience it, but dwell only on the things that will edify you.
As such, we know now that time is limited and goodness is to be savored. We are to edify ourselves and others. Speak truth with kindness whenever you are able, and give people second chances. Understand that not everyone is on the same level as you, or of the same experience, the same skill, the same desires. As such, operate with grace. Be kind whenever possible, to everyone. Everyone also includes you, don’t forget that.
And when all else fails, these things have served me exceedingly well:
“I can.”
“Follow your fear”
“Say Yes.”
I love you.
-M@