Only the Pretty Lies

by Rebekah Crane

It’s much easier to idolize the dead. The living constantly fail us. But in death, we remember a person as near perfect.

Imitation may lack in creative genius, but it’s a lot more inclusive.

“So is that the answer? Just step out of line and start walking in a different direction.

People don’t like deserters. Especially people who benefit from the system, because the more people who refuse to live by the rules, the more the system crumbles. You have to decide how you want to live. Lines are easy to follow. They’re comforting. It’s why most people stay where they are.”

Maybe we feel the inclination to get drunk because, without knowing it, we’ve been programmed, set on a path we’re desperately searching for a way out of, an escape from the inevitable. Except the morning always comes around, and the hangover reminds us of the cost of stepping out of line.

Honesty requires change, and most people don’t have time for that. They just want the pain to go away for a short time, so they can keep moving forward.”

“We’re programmed to ignore what we don’t want to see.”

To make our own selves feel more comfortable, we negate the voices of others we simply don’t want to hear.

“Do you know why I wanted to be a teacher, Amoris?” she asks. “Because none of my teachers looked like me. They were all White. That’s not to say they weren’t kind, or good teachers. Most were. But they had no idea what it felt like to be me. And kids need that. The secret to a good education has nothing to do with reading or multiplication, or facts. A good education is about belonging. It’s about being seen. Learning you’re important to the world. I wanted to make sure that kids like me knew I was seeing them.”

“I’m just listening to the same damn albums, you know. Playing the same damn songs by the same damn artists with the same damn lyrics. And they’re the same songs my mom listened to, and my grandma. I’ve always considered it a legacy, a good thing, but maybe it’s not. Because it just goes on and on, everyone in my family listening to the same music, generation after generation hearing the same message. It’s like I’ve memorized my life by listening to the same damn thing over and over. I’m just on repeat.”