I was five, as I sat in a puddle of tears overwhelmed by my overwrought mind. Nothing more than a bad day of school, a surrounding echo of voices piercing my ears with childish insults attacking my shoes. Something so simple, yet so unnecessary it tore me down. You patted me on the back with a handful of false hope, as the words you uttered were just one just one lie followed by another, “It’s alright, this sadness you’re dealing with is going to fade, life gets better and the truth is the little darkness you feel…well that’s going to be gone in no time.”
It’s simple, a little white lie to make the time go by. A growing ecosystem of false truths pleading its case, no harm is sought in what is taught. “So let me tell you now,” is what I’d say if it were possible to list every falsity, but saying that would be another lie.
I can list off some names entangled in this shame, whether it’s Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, or that all dreams will come true. Everything I’ve said encompasses this false sense of hope that our young lives are shaped positively, by those older than us, who guide us with comforting stories and ideas to build our aspirations.
To build us up they distort everything in front of us. When we are young they tell us the jingles attached to every magical melody embarked on a sense of countless truths. But as we age, to help us grow they break our spirit. Unraveling every magical lie plastered in our minds, repeating the phrase, “It’s time to move on.” Pushed to grow up and leave every sense of imaginative falsity behind. Sinking each of us into a spiral of heart-wrenching truths encapsulating life’s journey.
A path that can only stare back at us with treacherous eyes. No magical sense of joy to place an endless smile from ear to ear when the clock hits midnight. Now just a draining frown pulled down by every defeating truth that we will continue to feel with every growing hour. Yet, this is the way everyone grows, nurtured by lies, then thrown to the ground hoping age and wisdom will pick the self up. They build up our world to hold unattainable dreams and then break it down into insufferable realities.
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