Totally and Completely Fine

by Elissa Sussman

Little brothers. They had no respect for schedules. Timing. Planning.

“Acting is about telling the truth,” Ben said, and I could see him warming to the topic. Something he clearly cared about—had thought about. “But you do it through someone else. Someone else’s words, someone else’s character. You get to inhabit a new world, and you can bring people along with you. But it’s all about connection—you are reaching out, to show them something new about themselves. About others. About the world around them. It’s a chance to be open and vulnerable. To practice empathy. Lying is about being closed off. Putting up distance and walls and deception.”

“I don’t mind the pain,” he said. “It reminds me that I still have a heart to break.”