Getting Better

For a while I have been bothered by the It Gets Better Project. I like the idea, telling people in a difficult place that it gets better. I think the problem for me, like Kevin Spacey in American Beauty, is that I do not want to lie.

Life does get better from those difficult days of adolescence, but it does not just get better, you make choices that make it better. The trick is that new pain and new problems come along. You develop coping skills, or do not, but life changes and evolves. Old problems fade, new ones come along.

The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/us/23out.html) has compiled stories about coming out. About facing the pain of the unknown, and how different people, mostly teens, have dealt with it. They are far more inspirational, far more powerful and meaningful than people who have found something, reminiscing on the pain of the past. These stories should not just be read by those looking for hope while mired in the trials of their lives, but by everyone.