Not everyone is going to make it, not everyone is going to have a great career or a great romance, or a great family. Not everyone is going to be successful. In fact, a lot of people will fail miserably; a lot of people will turn 40 and still have nothing of their own. And some people… well, some people will just die young, but that’s completely out of our control anyway, so let’s skip that possibility.
The truth is every one of us is promised a brilliant future. You can be anything you want to be, they say. But most of the people saying these things are either people who still have a long ways to go, or people who already have money or support.
There are bunches of other people who have neither. How can you start your own business if you can’t even afford a Playstation? Ask for help, a simple solution. But what if you have no one to ask for help to? Or if you do but you know they won’t really help you because they have their own lives to take care of?
So what do you do? I can’t give you any answers. You see, I‘m standing in the same shit you are, I’m looking at the same depressing panorama you are, and I see no light at the end of the tunnel. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about either.
The fact is I’ve always thought we would all be much better if we hadn’t been promised so much when we were younger. I wish someone had told me “sweetheart, maybe you’ll be an astronaut, or maybe you’ll be a waitress. You could be the owner of your own company or just the girl who can’t even find a job. Either way, it’s fine”. But noooooo, they make us all these promises that we are somehow going to shine and in the end, you can’t help but be disappointed. And then they tell you to be happy with what you’ve got, instead of wishing for what you haven’t. Well, and whose fault is that? And even worse, what if you’ve got nothing?
Yet, they are right, you know? You should try to be happy with what you’ve got, because maybe it’s all you’re ever going to have, and maybe you’ll die tomorrow or next month, and you weren’t supposed to have a long and busy career, ‘cause you were just supposed to enjoy your life for the brief time it lasted.
But I can’t help but think, it would just be so much easier without any promises, without any pressure to succeed, to feel you should have a net of friends or family to support you, to be socially acceptable, because not all of us get to have that and some of us never will. It just makes us desperate and depressed, makes us feel somehow less than human, a failure at being human, if you will.
As I already told you, I have no solutions and no easy answers. I just have what I have and it’s probably enough even though I feel it’s lacking. So I can just say this, especially to all the adults, looking at the younger generations.
The next time you promise something, understand this: You are responsible for your promises. If you say something is going to happen, it is up to you to make it happen. Do not make promises only a God could keep, do not promise the future, because it is not in your hands. I am not saying you should destroy each other’s dreams or look at the world trough shit stained glasses. I am just saying; look at what’s in front of you. Maybe you’ll be a millionaire. It is possible. But probably, you won’t and there’s nothing wrong with that.
As for me, well, I am already a failed product so I will always feel like a failure but if I could stop this chain of despair, I would be… a little bit pleased with myself, I guess?
No, I have no big finish either.
