Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The Truth As It Currently Stands

You will not remember much from school.

School is designed to teach you how to respond and listen to authority figures in the event of an emergency. Like if there's a bomb in a mall or a fire in an office. It can, apparently, take you more than a decade to learn this. These are not the best days of your life. They are still ahead of you. You will fall in love and have your heart broken in many different, new and interesting ways in college or university (if you go) and you will actually learn things, as at this point, people will believe you have a good chance of obeying authority and surviving, in the event of an emergency. If, in your chosen career path, there are award shows that give out more than ten awards in one night or you have to pay someone to actually take the award home to put on your mantlepiece, then those awards are more than likely designed to make young people in their 20's work very late, for free, for other people. Those people will do their best to convince you that they have value. They don't. Only the things you do have real, lasting value, not the things you get for the things you do. You will, at some point, realise that no trophy loves you as much as you love it, that it cannot pay your bills (even if it increases your salary slightly) and that it won't hold your hand tightly as you say your last words on your deathbed. Only people who love you can do that. If you make art to feel better, make sure it eventually makes you feel better. If it doesn't, stop making it. You will love someone differently, as time passes. If you always expect to feel the same kind of love you felt when you first met someone, you will always be looking for new people to love. Love doesn't fade. It just changes as it grows. It would be boring if it didn't. There is no truly "right" way of writing, painting, being or thinking, only things which have happened before. People who tell you differently are assholes, petrified of change, who should be violently ignored. No philosophy, mantra or piece of advice will hold true for every conceivable situation. "The early bird catches the worm" does not apply to minefields. Perfection only exists in poetry and movies, everyone fights occasionally and no sane person is ever completely sure of anything. Nothing is wrong with any of this. Wisdom does not come from age, wisdom comes from doing things. Be very, very careful of people who call themselves wise, artists, poets or gurus. If you eat well, exercise often and drink enough water, you have a good chance of living a long and happy life. The only time you can really be happy, is right now. There is no other moment that exists that is more important than this one. Do not sacrifice this moment in the hopes of a better one. It is easy to remember all these things when they are being said, it is much harder to remember them when you are stuck in traffic or lying in bed worrying about the next day. If you want to move people, simply tell them the truth. Today, it is rarer than it's ever been.

(People will write things like this on posters (some of the words will be bigger than others) or speak them softly over music as art (pause for effect). The reason this happens is because as a society, we need to self-medicate against apathy and the slow, gradual death that can happen to anyone, should they confuse life with actually living.)

31 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Caramelavs said...

words are so powerful, especially when you know how to use them, to compose them in this way, dagger straight to the heart comes to mind.
This post is what you call "hitting the nail on the head" bravo!xx

Anonymous said...

Every word u have ever wrote has given me a thump on the head or the heart, but this one... this one just blew me away! oh what a cliché :)

Khairie said...

Not quite what I expected.

But I think this needs to be printed on a very big piece of paper and put into a very big frame.

Thank you for reminding us.

Anonymous said...

Your words saved my life today and I know it may sound cheesy.But it isn't.It's the truth.
So,thank you.

Dani said...

I love the way you can break my heart and build it anew, with new hope, using only words.

It's not that you said here anything I haven't faithfully said, thought and believed on my own. To myself. And to others. It's the fact you say it also.

It's the knowing I'm not the only one to see these things and to believe in their truth. It's a reassurance of sanity. Not by popular opinion, but by truths. Some days we all need that. To know at least one other person "gets it." Even half a world away.

<3 Thank you. For being. For caring. For writing. Just...thank you.

Hayley said...

As I'm getting closer to my high school graduation and getting more and more nervous about my future that I was so sure about before, these words made me feel that little bit more comfortable with my mysterious future that I needed

Anonymous said...

Thank you.I want you to know that the work you do matters.To me,and to many others.

Hetero-Challenged said...

Here I am wasting away in my bed, thinking of all the ways I don't deserve then I get this.

Wow. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

You take me by the hand
And pull me back into life
Just with your words

Anonymous said...

reminds me of 'Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young'

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-sunscreen-column,0,4054576.column

great post, thanks for this

Michelle said...

Thanks for the reminders. These are truths for not so young people too.

Jamie said...

...Thank you.

Anonymous said...

This would be perfect for your book, either at the end of beginning I think but the parentheses are a must because of how true they are.

valerie said...

this needs to be posted somewhere

AngelitaLB said...

I read your lines
Those one that made me smile
And then i realized
The limit is the sky

Who are you?
Yes, the one who smile
I think your wondering
Who is this crazy one

Yes, I'm the one who read your lines...

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Hey you!
Thanks for inpired us.

. said...

Thank you for this.

Megan Mow said...

How inspiring! One of the best ones so far, probably (and I have many favourites)

klara said...

This one feels as if for once you didn't care about making your words beautiful, you just wrote down the bare truth. And that is what makes it beautiful. I love this text.
It's hard to tell the truth. It's hard to find an occasion to tell the truth. It's hard to stop yourself from thinking that you need an occasion to tell the truth instead of creating that occasion. I know that the truths about what I really think about people would be too beautiful for them to believe and that's why I never dare to say them.

And the timing, too. You posted this on the day of my very last maths exam... I'll probably forget everything I learned about that... This one feels so personal, because I'm about to enter university next year and I really don't know anything about life yet.

Anonymous said...

wow wow wow. thank you

as you said, perfection can only exist in poetry.

your words are poetry. they are more than just poetry. and your words are perfect.

Anonymous said...

Your writing style is similar to D.F. Wallace! Thank you for those words...

Alanna said...

I've been following your blog for a long time, and somehow, the posts you've posted have been relevant in my life. They seem to follow the same course my life has taken, and especially with this post, being that I just graduated. I love the way you write, and even though you don't know me, thank you so much for being here.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much, I needed to hear this and I need to remember these words are true.

Sam Stepanovic said...

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Love you

P said...

I can never thank you enough.

Thank you, again.

Anonymous said...

You're right

Anonymous said...

I absolutely loved this. Great blog!

Jake - Aus said...

Sometimes, some things simply can not be expressed with a few short words.

Well said on every point. You're obviously quite analytical and very self-aware. :)

This person said...

This is absolutely beautiful (and I'm sure the amount of comments for this post can clearly support this claim).

Thank you, thank you, a hundred times thank you.

ThusiN said...

Nice flow of ideas! and thanks for sharing