A Little Bit of Clarity

My brother-in-law has just completed his 15th annual "I'm not dead award" appearance, and with this year, he begins his first year of high school.

I've done more than my share of reminiscing lately, but it's such a trip to remember things, only because they're better than when they actually happened.

I was young, but I knew things. I figured out in middle school what Simon has now realized... a full 8 years before your average human being figures it out. It makes him miserable now, but he'll see. He'll understand one day that it is the path to enlightenment.

My wife stifled her own laughter as he realized his conclusion, which she repeated to me in confidence.

"I don't see the point of getting up in the morning. It's like, I get up, I go to school, I come home, I do homework, I sleep, I get up and go to school all over again. Then I'll go to college, and after college, I'll be at a job, and it's always the same thing."

See, my brother-in-law has got an easy life. As frugal as his parents are, he doesn't understand that supporting yourself these days means becoming a slave to the economy, and the only pleasure we can get out of not blowing our brains out and instead living our near automatic lives, is becoming a consumer and buying some really cool shit. Or for some of us, having lots of children.

So they can have cool shit.

Or you could live with your parents until you're 50 and they die. Whatever. Then you'd sound like this kid: