My family's slogan, if any, would be the pat-on-the-shoulder phrase my mum keeps coming up with during both seemingly good and obviously bad times: "It will be ok". It never is ok at the present moment, there's always something to improve, and there's always that glimpse of the future promise land where all is, finally, good. The best possible world. Just hang in there and it will come.
I've never found this motto comforting. Understandably, my parents have had their share of hardships, many of which I have been spared of by growing up in a very different political context. And many of which I avoided by not skipping school, being brave enough to step outside of the comfort zone and see life elsewhere, quitting smoking, and other moves that seem to have turned out well.
Still, the more I find my rational self, the more I realise I grew up in a somewhat dramatic environment, aside from the Latin blood perhaps having something to do with it. In my home, illness is a tragedy, let's not even bring death into the discussion, failures of any size and type are reasons for insomniac depressions and troop gatherings, and, worse of all, changes, or simply people or things that fall outside the familiar, a source for skepticism, un-confessed fear, or even doomsday scenarios. And there's always something going on.
I used to be like that myself. With time, by being away, and with someone close to back me up when derailing, I found a more composed way to face life as it comes (until proven otherwise at least). It is now where hope lies, not somewhere in the vague future. It's ok now, or not really, but it's how it is.
I guess a lot my parents behavior comes from an obsession I suspect they have for protecting their, our nest, for sticking to the small, safe world I resented so much. And a lot comes from simply not knowing, not questioning. But that's another story.
I just think hope can act as a distraction at times. It's ok to believe better times lie ahead, but I'd rather not let that get in the way of just dealing with what is happening now. We all need a bit of hope, but some of us need a lot of it, and then there's religion, and that comes with giving part of ourselves up completely. I'd rather not get there.
To end on a movie note, I get most hope from old movies endings, better that any contemporary love stories. So candid is the end of, for example, Billy Wilder's "The Apartment" .
"Shut up and deal", I'm saying too, in face of all the noise.
Rainy-day soundtrack below.
I've never found this motto comforting. Understandably, my parents have had their share of hardships, many of which I have been spared of by growing up in a very different political context. And many of which I avoided by not skipping school, being brave enough to step outside of the comfort zone and see life elsewhere, quitting smoking, and other moves that seem to have turned out well.
Still, the more I find my rational self, the more I realise I grew up in a somewhat dramatic environment, aside from the Latin blood perhaps having something to do with it. In my home, illness is a tragedy, let's not even bring death into the discussion, failures of any size and type are reasons for insomniac depressions and troop gatherings, and, worse of all, changes, or simply people or things that fall outside the familiar, a source for skepticism, un-confessed fear, or even doomsday scenarios. And there's always something going on.
I used to be like that myself. With time, by being away, and with someone close to back me up when derailing, I found a more composed way to face life as it comes (until proven otherwise at least). It is now where hope lies, not somewhere in the vague future. It's ok now, or not really, but it's how it is.
I guess a lot my parents behavior comes from an obsession I suspect they have for protecting their, our nest, for sticking to the small, safe world I resented so much. And a lot comes from simply not knowing, not questioning. But that's another story.
I just think hope can act as a distraction at times. It's ok to believe better times lie ahead, but I'd rather not let that get in the way of just dealing with what is happening now. We all need a bit of hope, but some of us need a lot of it, and then there's religion, and that comes with giving part of ourselves up completely. I'd rather not get there.
To end on a movie note, I get most hope from old movies endings, better that any contemporary love stories. So candid is the end of, for example, Billy Wilder's "The Apartment" .
"Shut up and deal", I'm saying too, in face of all the noise.
Rainy-day soundtrack below.
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