Solving a problem
is about finding
the right tool.
Sometimes
You have the right tool
but forgot it.
Sometimes
You saw wrong
And you grabbed the hammer
When what you needed was a wrench.
Sometimes
You simply don't have it
And need to go to the store
To get the tool you need.
Sometimes
That tool is people.
New ideas, new methods, new tricks.
Everyone else has so much to teach us.
And sometimes
I stressed so much
I forgot the simple solution
and cried myself to sleep.
And maybe
maybe sometimes
there just isn't a perfect solution at all
and I have to just deal with it.
Or maybe I'm using a voltmeter and car battery
When what I actually need is a hand.
"okay, so what do you say when someone says they're not worth anything"
"Who the hell says they're worthless I'll fight them" "Alright, now what should you think when you're the one that feels like you're worthless" "Well I'd be right, I am worthless" "no-"
Let me be alone.
Let me be in suffering.
I have earned nothing less.
I have failed you.
I have failed them.
Throw me to the dogs.
Throw me on the fire.
Throw me like paper scraps.
Let me achieve penance.
Oh, how tempting that mistress is,
to be shut away and not a bother to nobody,
To make absolutely no-one the sadder
by reciting the same pains that ailed them.
Oh, how tempting that emptiness is,
to be quiet and subdued and unnoticed,
To make absolutely nothing go worse than it already has
by moving again to the great god of failure.
Oh, how tempting that nothingness is,
to be perfect and nonexistent and unbothered,
To make absolutely everything nothing, and nothing everything
by emptying the whole world of its contents.
Oh, how tempting that silence is,
to destroy my self in mine own vainglory.
Do you ever wonder if people can really change beyond their formative years?
"Sure they can. Maybe not the whole, but a solid chunk? Yeah."
Well, I suppose that's true to some extent.
A man can live the first 20 years of his life in a constant state of movement.
Studying, working, doing chores, being what he needs to be in order to survive a harsh environment.
Then he can live the next 20 years in a carefree state of relaxation,
and live the last 50 as the hardworking man once more to provide for his family.
Or at least, that's the story of my father.
But I fear I am still going to be that same child I was, back when I was five, ten, fifteen.
I fear I am forever going to be under the shadow of that man,
that man who had two children without even realizing how fucked up his own childhood was.
I fear I will never become anything more, at my core, than that five year old child.
Sure, I suppose I'll change, superficially; maybe I'll know a bit more, fit into society a bit more, and so on.
But at heart I will still be that same, sad, scared little child,
a child who would do anything for a bit of affirmation and approval.
I fear that when I am thirty, or fifty, or eighty, or a hundred-twenty, or however the fuck long I live,
that I will still be no different from the child I was when I was five.
I fear that I am always going to be the same little boy who begs for just the slightest bit of love.
I fear that I am forever that child at age five.
I am sitting here.
All alone. By myself.
Bothering nobody.
You come along.
To do whatever. I don't care.
You look at me and sigh loudly.
No, what the fuck?
What was that supposed to mean?
"Nevermind." Nevermind my ass, tell me.
Is what I want to say, but I don't.
Instead I take that bravado and use it elsewhere.
I fake strength as I shrink inside.
I already know you do this bullshit on purpose.
This is something you do all the time.
Always ends the same way.
But it doesn't always end the same.
I'm not the only person in your mind.
So why do I assume it is?
You go and argue with the pacifist bastion.
She yells back. I fear it is about me.
I sneak closer. It is not.
This is the second time that I assumed wrong about your yelling.
You have much bigger troubles than me. I am not important.
So why do I always assume? And why do I always fear?
I have no answers to such questions.
I have no solutions to such problems.
There is only fear left in this husk.
There once was a boy who hated himself
for he was afraid of punishment, afraid of failure
so he looked to the world for happiness and joy
and only found short-lived self-deprecating jokes
There once was a boy who thought he was happy
but every day when he came home
tired of his happy clownish facade
he sat down in his chair and thought
as both the jester and the king
in his own court of delusion
There once was a man who knew what went wrong
who hated those who made him go oh so wrong
but inside, deep down, the same man that knew
also knew it was unfair to hate those who wronged him
so the boy kept it inside, the smoldering rage
for he was not a man yet, not in body nor in mind
There once was a boy who convinced himself
that he was happy enough to live in the moment
nevermind the man in his head who told him
about all the things he did wrong, or the wrongs done to him
he was content to live in the moment with the joy of friendship
until that friendship was shattered in every single way
There was once a boy who loved those who wronged him
for he was full of that childish love to give to those undeserving
until the young man burst out with the greatest anger
to speak his mind and wield his fist in the most primal way
for those who had wronged him had aged too much to wrong again
and it was now his turn to wrong them, and assert his own power
but those who had wronged him had aged too much to wrong again
and so the child stopped him, for the child was naive,
and the child still loved all.
There is now only a child who wallows in anger and doubt
about who he is, why he is, and what he should do
who had all the love to give others but found none at all from them
and can no longer love for the sake of love
but only for the hope that someone will love him back
There is now only a man who is thoroughly dissappointed
at the weakness of the child and the perpetuation of failure
who explained how to win as the child chose to lose
for he was only a child who had never felt love
and naively gave away his soul along with his love
and these two continue to bicker and fight
about who was right and who was wrong
and as always only time will tell
only after it is already too late
I am a Good Person.
I must not get angry.
I must not fight people.
I must not shout.
I must not be angry.
I must not be sad.
I must not talk about my paltry issues.
I must not talk about what I want.
I must not be inconsiderate.
I must not be insensitive.
I must not appear threatening.
I must not allow my face to be percieved.
I must not speak to people.
I must not draw the attention of others.
I must not be extraordinary.
I must not be unique.
I must not appear unhappy.
I must not appear different.
I must not see myself as unhappy.
I must not see myself as happy.
I must not seek freedom.
I must not prioritize myself.
I must not hestitate to help others at the cost of myself.
I must not unshackle myself from the chains of my own design.
I must not escape these chains which hold myself back from both Heaven and Hell alike.
I am a Good Person.
A tree falls in the forest.
Nobody is nearby. Nobody to hear.
Does it even make a sound?
A tree falls in the forest.
It will impact the ecosystem
even more than it impacts the ground.
A lighthouse stops its beacon.
A ship nearby is lost and weary.
It cannot see. It runs aground.
A man dies alone in his hut.
He was kind, he was friendly, he was good.
At his funeral, no friends of his could be found.
But one kind lady far away might remember.
He had helped her find her way, a long time ago.
And so his memory, perhaps, will be skyward bound
as the man who loved everybody but himself.
I am really going to go crazy some day,
I am going to go fucking insane.
It feels like the whole world is against me,
when I know it is not in truth,
but I can't let go of truth nor lie and it all blends together.
What do I want? What the fuck do I even want?
Is it money? Convenience? Freedom? Ability?
Will I come to value material more than I value people?
Will I come to value society more than I value its parts?
Will I erase "myself" in search of a "successful" future?
What am I? What can I be?
Am I able to be more than the sum of my history?
More than trauma, coping, addiction, fear, anger, sadness?
Do I even want to be more? Will I lose "myself" in the process?
Am I even allowed to change?