Hard Work

I look around me, and everything just seems, well, awful. 

So many people I know are troubled, by real, honest, measurable things. They aren't the fairy tale troubles of teens that have everything they want and nothing to do: They have real problems, the kind that are still persistently there after a good night's sleep and a cup of tea. 

I could moan about my own current problems, but I'm not in the mood. It won't help me, it won't help you. I'm going to tell you a different story. 

I know I'm not the most optimistic guy in the world, hell, if there is anyone who is ready to tell you how many african children are dying while you eat that cheese burger, it's me. When things are bad, it's hard to be optimistic, and hopeful. But I tell you, when things get worse, I mean terrible, it is so much harder not to. 

When I was much younger and chubbier and blonder, I read 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. I was transfixed by captain Nemo's underwater paradise. And I decided that I wanted to be a marine biologist. Mum had been sick for a while, but I clung to a fantasy world where everything was blue, beautiful, unknown and waiting, just waiting for Joel to get in his submarine and figure it all out for everyone. I wasn't very good at my times-tables at that age, and I can remember that my uncle, who I was staying with at the time, told me, "Joel, you'll have to get better at maths if you want to be a scientist."

Then I realised, no, sorry, you can't be that, it isn't real, you have to be better, and you can't. And my wonderful crystal fantasy shattered. My uncle didn't realize what he'd done. He just wanted to motivate me to be better at school. But when he told me then that I wasn't good enough, I saw a great grey wall of failure looming. And I knew I wouldn't be able to achieve my dream. 

No one told me then, about hope. About not just dreaming, but working hard to stay happy. If someone had told me then what I knew now, maybe I would be on my way to looking at some kind of new mollusc while wearing a scuba suit. 

So that's why I'm going to tell you this now. Sometimes, things are damn hard. But if you want them to, they can be better. You've heard it before from a thousand mouths, a message of hope. But no matter how stale it might seem, I'm going to tell you again. Hope isn't dead, there is so much too look forward to, so many wonderful people and opportunities. So much life that is so worth living. Don't get bogged down by what is now and what was then, pull yourself up with the promise of what is to come. 

It isn't a crime to feel sad. But if you are too busy being sad to remember that things will get better, well, that's just a shame. 

So, whoever you are, I don't care, I just wanted you to know that today I don't hate you. I don't hate anyone today. 

I love you, and trust me, someone else does too, and more people are yet to. You'll be fine, go chase your submarine.