On Hopes for the Future

Dear Future Child of America,

 I hope your whole family has the ability to take care of themselves, and meet their medical needs.  I hope you are well-fed. I hope you go to school and never worry if an act of violence will be committed.  I hope you feel like advancing your education is possible, and employment  is probable. I hope you come into a world that makes you feel significant and safe. If you do not, none of the other fluffy hogwash I am going to tell you that I wish for you matters at all. But, I’ll ramble anyway.   

 I hope you grow up proud of the people from whom you came. I hope you experience the comfort of deeply-rooted family tradition, and that those traditions are among your fondest memories. I hope you respect your parents because they taught you to respect others. I hope you respect your siblings because they have forgiven for all the petty crimes you committed against them as a kid, and enjoy you.   I hope you're lucky enough to get to experience the adults of your childhood well into your adulthood. If you do get that fortunate, I hope you realize what a gift it is. It is completely natural for the gift of family to annoy the living hell out of you though. 

I hope you go through junior high and high school without too many emotional scars from bullies or friends who become jerks. I hope that you hold onto childhood friends as steadfastly as you do those traditions I wrote about. I hope you make new friends in every phase of life, and when you find good ones, forgive them as if they're family. I hope you make your friends laugh, and trust them to cry with you.  I hope you stand up to good friends and allow them to stand up to you. You'll lose some friends along the way, because people are weird (yourself included). I hope you hug the ones you keep.

 I hope you think you are good looking because life is easier if you do.  You probably won’t though. So, I hope you know three lovely individuals who you actually believe when they tell you they think you are pretty or handsome. I hope no one ever gives you a definite definition of “good-looking”. If someone does, I hope you ignore them.   I hope that people have healthier bodies and minds by the time you realize that both bodies and minds can be sick.

I hope you feel sexy often, when you’re old enough to feel sexy. I hope that people stop thinking that sexualizing you at three is acceptable.  When you are an adult, I hope you enjoy sex guiltlessly, with whoever you choose to sleep with.  No matter your gender or age I hope, you really are hard to get into bed because you value your time, feelings, and health.  I hope you respect others’ sexual decisions, and recognize rape as an occurrence that starts with the rapist. Because, by the time you are of age to consider all of this, I hope we are raising fewer jackasses.

I hope you work hard because someone taught you that it is the only way to achieve the many dreams that you have. And then, I hope you work hard because of the way it makes you feel, because it changes things. I hope you take responsibility for letting laziness get the best of you, because it will. I hope you value the people who push you to do better.  I hope you compassionately help struggling workers to do their best.  I hope you forgive yourself when you don’t do your best, so you can improve when you try again. Mostly, I hope you try again.

I hope you experience romantic love that makes you dizzy… for a while and cheerful for eternity. I hope that the “frogs” you kiss are decent humans, or that they at least make you see how decent you are. The chance of that happening is slim but it would save you a lot of pain.  I hope you have a 50^th anniversary party. I hope the guest at the party will hear your sharp-tongued comments from across the room.

I hope you travel by plane, and by book.

I hope you break important rules.

I hope you take care of people, and your community.

I hope you believe that climate change is real and our environment is precious.

I hope you see art when you look at the tagging on building of the roughest street in the poorest city.

I hope you can deal with a lot of unfair breaks.

I hope you grow old, read this and laugh hysterically at how idealistic I was, and that you have led the kind of life that allows you to be an idealist, too.