Miss Margo, you should know ahead of time that this is not advice. I am not in any place to be giving any. Advice is nonsense anyhow. People do not want advice. What they want is somebody to sign off on whatever it is that they were already going to do. Ask enough people and eventually, somebody will green light our stupid plan. People love to give advice. A chance to revel in their intellectual superiority. After all, if this were not the case, the person “asking for advice” would not be coming to them with a problem they cannot or do not want to figure out. So, this is not advice. Not that you asked. Let me just tell you a couple of things that I know, Miss Margo. Admittedly, what I happen to know is next to nothing, but that goes for everybody. Even the people who seem to know everything.
Running the numbers on social media, Margo, comes out to one-hundred and fifty-two likes on Instagram and another ninety-one on Facebook as it stands. A total of two-hundred and forty-three people love your picture. Personally, I think it is sort of weird when people call babies “beautiful,” but 243 people have said you are, so you must be. They’re probably right. Considering who your parents are, anybody could have guessed that, although I don’t think anyone could have guessed you would look Asian. Your arrival was a beautiful moment in an otherwise broken world. In any event, Margo, one of the few things I know is that you did not have a say in the matter. None of us did. We do not have a say in how we look, what behavioral tendencies we will be prone to, or how we sound – none of it.
Depending on how you look at it, you have been either gifted with certain things or burdened with them. Either way, you had nothing to do with the gifts nor the burdens. Is this all sounding depressing? I hope not. This is great news, Margo! All of this means that you do not have to attach yourself to any of it. You have the choice. The quicker you are aware of this wonderful news, the quicker you can decide whether to shed or to retain whatever karmic imprint you please. For example, if it is even still a league by the time you are twenty, you are more than likely going to have the ability to play in the WNBA. Well, if your mom is in charge, you will end up playing hockey – or soccer – or both. Neither of those will sit well with dad. Listen, the point is that evidence suggests you are going to be a phenomenal athlete, but you can either accept or reject that, among other things, and that is wonderful news.
This broken world that I mentioned – I have more good news about that. You didn’t have a say in that, either, and you don’t have a choice on whether you will be a sinner or not. If that sounds a little unfair, that’s probably because it is. You didn’t ask for any of this, and yet here you are. Some people take that information and plunge themselves into the depth of nihilism. What they don’t understand is how great that news is. Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody. We are all in this together. You’re allowed to cut yourself some slack. More good news: You do have the choice to accept responsibility to do your best and fix this broken world if even just a small fix. That is all we are anyway. A speck of dust in the Universe. You’ll have a good chance to do some good, too. Your dad is going to teach you all about socialism. I’m kidding. Sure, a hint of truth in every joke, but you are in extremely good hands.
One last thing that I know for certain: What those 243 people “like” is the innocence of youth and time. They like how much time you have at your disposal to get it right. Time that we all have less and less of; time that I wasted a lot of because I thought to myself that I had so much time. I spent a lot of time in Neverland, a dream world. You have time to do that while you still have your youthful innocence, but there will come a time when that must be abandoned for the reality of adulthood. Use your time wisely. Don’t wait till your thirty like me. Eventually, there will come another time when you will have to regain the innocence of your youth, but crossing that bridge is a long way away. Ah, the circle of life.
This is a short piece, Miss Margo, because its purpose was to tell you what I know, and I don’t know much about anything. What I do know is that I’m glad you’re here. I also know that you’ll never need 243 likes. There is One who has pressed a permanent love button on you. The only one you’ll ever need.
Before I go, Margo, let me tell you a story about your dad and how much he cares about people. A few years ago, I was in a very dark place. After seeing me in such a horrendous state, I woke up one morning to a text from your now father. He had sent me lyrics about being comfortable in my own skin, but he was essentially telling me that he hoped that I would get the help I needed. I’ll never forget it. He typically isn’t sappy like this, but he cared enough to send me that text. If he cared enough to do that, imagine how much he is going to – and already does care about you.
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