My Last Words

So the other day I was thinking about what I would say if I knew that I could write one letter, or a note, to the whole world, and know that they’d read it.

Well, there’s so much that I want to say about all of the important things that make life what it is. Something tells me that the “Christian” last letter would be to say something about living for God, but I know that it’ll take a hey of a lot more than this note to convince anyone of anything like that. I know the “freedom” loving letter would be something along the lines of asking for a defense of social and economic liberty, but that’d take even longer than talking about religion.

So when it comes right down to it, I guess there really isn’t any cliche statement that needs to be said that can be said in just a few paragraphs. So instead of convincing the world of any idea, instead of addressing you all as people who need convincing — I’ll just say some words to the people that probably could use some encouragement.

The people that I’m writing to are the heroic individuals who aren’t blind followers. I would expound a little more, but, that’s just exactly who I’m talking to. So here we go:

Whenever you see a group of people laughing at you because they think your shoes just aren’t quite up to par, it’s okay. Their shoes probably suck as well, and the people in charge of fashion and trends just don’t know it yet. Give it 12 months, and the popular opinion will be on your side.

Whenever you see a politician talking out of his rear, making up stuff so that the fools of the world will give him a few more months of that sweet power, just know that something is terribly amiss. You’ll be heads above the rest if you do that, at least. Most people don’t even know that there’s something wrong with the man. Or woman.

Whenever you see that pastor asking his people to be blind, and to be proud of their ignorance, or when you see him arrogantly defending some doctrine that doesn’t matter at all, while he props himself up in his little empire that they call the church… it’s okay. By his own standards, he’s going to get what he deserves for it all in the end.

Whenever you see that person that puts a bad taste in your mouth, but you know that they have hundreds of “friends”, and they could destroy you and make you look bad without even trying…just remember: they’re more miserable than all the people they hurt for sport.

Whenever you feel like you just can’t do something, and you feel down about yourself, and you are beating yourself over the head, and you wish you had someone to give you a hug, but no one wants to hug you… chances are, you deserve the pain. There’s no place for pointless self-pity. Get over it. Happiness is a choice. Be who you want to be, then deal with the consequences.

Whenever you see a Christian reference a popular junk-food “devotional” book, while they say that faith doesn’t make sense, that God is above “human logic” and that we have to utterly “abandon ourselves”…and then they walk away and buy some nice pants, and a shirt that they saw some famous person wear, and then they go back to their life and their pursuit of that Mac and the nice cell-phone, and they can’t wait for that wonderful drink at Starbucks, and they keep on living so differently than the trash they read — it’s okay. They know you’re right. They just don’t know it yet.

Whenever you’re in a crowd of people, and you feel funny because everyone is expecting you to do something, and you aren’t quite sure what that is, and then they end up laughing at you because you used a word in a way that they weren’t expecting, or you blurted out an obvious truth and they want to play their cowardly little games — it’s okay. The jokes on them. They just don’t get it yet.

In the end, just remember that it’s okay to be you and to not be everyone else. It’s okay to start your sentences with “I” instead of “We”. It’s okay to laugh at the guy who has the big audience, and is making a lot of money with some lies to the people who just want something easy to believe.

You’re on the right track. Just don’t fall away, and join the ranks of the people who actually think that if you wear the right kind of pants you’re a cool person, or if your glasses don’t look nerdy then you really aren’t, or that your car makes you something, or that saying the “right” thing is really the right thing at all. Just don’t give in to them. You haven’t yet. Ideas do matter. You are right. It’s okay to be a “just me”.

So what would you say? Pour your guts out.