HARD TRUTH FOR SENSITIVE PEOPLE

Hard truth comes in one flavor, and it’s not sweet.

It’s more of a gag-reflex flavor.

You listen, want to disagree, but you keep listening instead.

Then you go to the ICU? Maybe.

The personal toll of hearing a hard truth about yourself can be debilitating.

Who wants to learn they might be a jackass?

No one.

Who wants all the tails pinned on them?

Same. No one.

But it happens.

Hard Truth For High Schoolers

Young people need as much positive energy as they can draw.

No so much for the star athlete, the academic over-achiever, or the singer everyone wants to hear?

Yes, them too. Here’s why:

The star athlete who dominated junior high and high school may be consumed by the fear that they peaked too soon.

They went from great, to good, to everyone is catching up.

College? They were too busy being star athletes and had no time for studies.

The ‘social pass’ has been their friend since no teacher wants to be tagged as the one who derailed a promising sports career.

Didn’t Forrest Gump graduate from University of Alabama? He may be fictional, but more than one sportsman has been issued a degree for winning the Big Game.

Before we know it Herschel Walker may claim a Nobel Prize to go along with his other awards and achievements.

Go Herschel, go. No really, just go.

The Truth About College

For all of the forecasting that shows a college degree is the gateway to an upwardly mobile life, there are auditoriums full of former students who missed that boat.

When I was a kid my dad took us all on a discovery trip. The first stop was a fish nursery.

The man there was very informative.

“I’ve got a bachelor’s degree and a masters’ and I’m doing work a high school dropout could do. Was it a waste of time and money?”

We all walked around, then back in the car the old man said, “That guy downplays his education because he got one. It will come in handy later when he applies for a different job that requires a degree. Get one sooner than later is what he should have said.”

My dad graduated from college at age thirty, married with three kids. This was after spending five years in the Marine Corps and running ridges in Korea in 1950.

His sons didn’t need some disgruntled fish man telling his story. We had a father. He didn’t share much of his educational journey, but we knew he’d been on one and wanted us to take it too.

And we did, though no one became a marine biologist.

Adults Want Soft Truth

After we’ve been through the wringer a few times we like to think we’ve earned a rest.

The high school graduate needs a rest?

College boy needs a rest?

You turned thirty and you’re tired?

Sound familiar?

Who is going to tell these people the hard truth they need to hear?

“Sure, you worked hard, got the job done, and you deserve a break. But while you’re resting up, someone is fueling the fire for their future. And you won’t know who that is until they are your boss.”

That’s what I told my kids when they were in high school and college. Also:

“You’re going to be surprised when your friends get out on their own. Some won’t be able to deal with dorm life and go off the deep end.

“Some won’t be able to let go of the familiar and travel, won’t leave their street, their hometown. Once you get out and around a little you lose the fear of the unknown.”

For current times I remind them that identity isn’t based on the number of guns or amount of ammunition.

Weird, right?

But identity is based on associations. We are a reflection of who we spend time with.

If a man can end up in the ICE after hearing hard truth, wouldn’t you think every hospital in the land would be maxed out after the Jan. 6 committee pulled the curtains back on the insurrection?

I’m stunned that there’s not lines as long as the voter lines in Georgia outside hospitals after the FBI visited a Florida resort.

When hard truth reveals a shit-stained liar, do more than hold your breath and plug your nose.

Like what? Try voting for democracy. It feels soooooo good.