Fairytales

I realize it’s hard. That day when you realize your parents aren’t gods. That your mom and dad aren’t perfect. That Santa Claus doesn’t exist. That good doesn’t always win over evil. That you’re going to die someday.

But you can’t be an adult until you learn to accept those things. To reject the saccharine lies of ignorance. The pretty, pleasant half truths.

Truth isn’t comforting. It can be uplifting through tragedy and beautiful through ugliness. But we will never be adults until we accept unpleasant truths. And reject the falsehoods, however comforting they may be.

This nation was built on genocide, using the strength of enslaved hands. And that legacy continues. The idea of it continues. Even if we were to wipe away racism, the mode of thought that led to those atrocities would still be with us: that to the conquerer goes the spoils. That the less fortunate, who do the actual work, deserve less because they’re not on top. The manifest destiny of the CEO is the same same as the conquistador or the slaveowner.

Any student of ancient history knows that the righteousness of a party in any conflict never decided their likelihood of winning. It was wealth. And as wealth is passed down, so is dominion over the conquered. And those who inherit wealth or dominion or privilege have to internally justify inheriting it. No person sees their life as perfect. None are. And we only have our own perspective by which to judge the world.

So, if it was possible, though difficult, for you to get and maintain a car, you might feel that those who can’t afford a car mustn’t have been able to handle the difficulty you overcame. It’s a fallacy borne of perspective. As foolish as a woman condemning a man for not being able to get pregnant. You were born with the ability. Even if the act took work.

The problem with all of us is the inability to see (beyond the confines of our own small, meaningless lives) that we are a link in a long chain. But we have the power to sever the bonds that make the future a sad repetition of the past. We need only learn that the pretty tales of the past were lies in order to have the indignation to ensure that the future can be truthfully better.

To take example from the fairy tales we were taught to make the future better. Instead of believing the fairy tales were once true and clinging to a decadent past.

– Edgar