The Crossroads

Things I wish someone had told me when I was growing up:

- If you are even a marginally decent person, expect to be stalked. Constantly. By everyone and their grandmother. Even by your own family. Expect any flaw in your character, no matter how immaterial and insignificant, to be shared, privately at first, but eventually publicly for all the world to snicker and laugh at. This is a blessing in disguise, because it means that someone somewhere out there hasn't given up on you yet, and is trying to teach you how to be noble.

- Yes, there is still slavery in this world. And it's practiced in every nation, in many different forms. No one in positions of power really care enough to stamp it out. You can try yourself to fight back against it, but it will be a losing battle, as the evil in this world is orchestrated by dark and twisted forces more powerful than any mere mortal. The only real reason to fight the good fight is to have an honorable death, so that when the real heroes finally arrive, who are the most powerful of all, they can redeem both you and your good name.

- Stay close to your family, if not physically then spiritually. They may be abusive at times, but they are the only thing protecting you from even greater cruelties, all of which lie in wait for you around virtually every corner in this world. Only leave your family once you have found either a spouse or a higher power to cling to, as those are the only things that will protect your soul.

- Not everyone will be saved. Not everyone even wants to be saved. Many people prefer the darkness. Some of them will appeal to your ego, and try to make you think you can save them from their sins. You can't. They are only manipulating you to keep you near them, so that they can profit off of the fool's errands they send you on.

- If you have no family, and you want to be free, there are only two things you need: a good pair of feet, for walking -- and sometimes running -- away from any situation that you feel is harmful to you. Don't worry about where you're going. In most cases, it cannot get much worse than where you already are. Do not freeze up or try to fight back. Just flee.

- Don't look back. It's a pointless exercise which will teach you nothing about where you are, or where you're going. It will only make you bitter and resentful, which will only compound your problems in the here and now.

- Don't worry too much about the future. Fortunes change so radically and so often in this world that there's no guarantee you'll survive until the end of any given day. And even if you do make it to that far-off day you're dreaming about, your circumstances will be so radically different that any plans you made will be woefully inadequate.

- DO NOT try to fake it until you make it. That is only a way of training yourself to be disingenuous. And the longer you wear that mask, the harder it will be to remove it. Eventually it will become part of you, and the real you will be trapped within, perhaps indefinitely.

- If you want to achieve something, anything, do one thing each day to bring yourself closer to that goal. It doesn't matter how trivial that thing is. Do this patiently and consistently, and you will eventually succeed.

- Take good care of yourself. If you do not, no one else will, and you will die. It's not vanity. It's training, so that you will know how to take care of others.

- When someone tells you that you are too talented in one area or the other, consider them to be your mortal enemy. And when someone tells you that you cannot trust anyone in this world, trust them least of all, as they are advertising their desire to betray you.

- Don't try to figure things out on your own. When the time is right for you to know something, understanding will come naturally to you. The pursuit of undeserved knowledge is the most tragic and foolhardy quest a person can ever embark upon.