You're Young, Dear Contramist!

You are not cast in bronze! Just a few more steps and we’ll see the rest of the island from here. And as the waves lap the shore, no, we haven’t aged at all, have we?

I mean, I at least picked up this tendency to trace a cobweb between joints, between cerebellum folds. And just because I’ve ate pavement for so many years, don’t show any tears, no, it doesn’t mean the furnace within is missing. Surely the same for you!

We’re just one rung up the mountain of playgrounds. Can’t you see all the jungle gyms and swings down the valley? And though we journeyed through each ravine, the long winding path to this stratospheric breeze, believe me, we’re only beginning.

By the windmill I’ll pull out my journal. Note: discovered the cure and eternal youth. Prior pages of everything we learned, and may pass to the lower candidates. That is, if they’ll share some of the winnings, should they ever catch up and join us. Many routes and skills up to this point.

I live as if I already died a long time ago, honestly, and weirdly enough it’s not too far off from living as a perpetual Peter Pan-er: everyday is new for someone with no history. Still, I must admit how stupid that is. Acting as a living dead.

If you press a knife into my shoulder you can see it still bleeds as bright as it did twenty years prior. As ink I’ll etch in the date, upon the stone obelisk surely shot here from the moonish aliens. Let’s get going — I’m thinking we can cover another five kilos before sunset.

And it’s no secret we live in a world where it seems like everything is broken. But that’s the funny part about circuits, electricity and economy: it seems broken, but rewired more than anything. More importantly: all of the circuitry is right there for you to reconfigure.

I’m not going to force some Positivity Violence on you… to demand a permanent smile when you’re hurting or disillusioned. All I want to suggest is that you’re young. At least I’ll say it and continually until I’m dead, encouraging many onlooking snickers. And with Youth, anything is possible, wouldn’t you agree? Each day a day for realized potential and growth.

Yes, here’s my treatise: Contramism, the new outlook for the ages. Counter every zeitgeist, especially today’s death spiral so addictive to swirl in; the most contrarian position you can have today is Optimism. Youthful earnestness.

The world is our playground, you and I. And I don’t know how big your plans are, but I look forward to them. I know you can do a lot more than you ever give yourself credit for.

I plan to lay some groundwork… to take everything already broken and snap it into a fresh way of being. To dream of this jungle-gym & turbine world, where the winds are painted by the direction from; blue from the west, green from the south. A town of gliders navigating the same as scooters.

You can fit an easel on the upcoming hill, of the beautiful fragments you’ll invoke simply. Fit it with some wings and watch it soar.

Everyone is waiting for you to begin.

Won’t you? Yes?

Jeez, you’re young and full of optimism, aren’t you!