Ask Me No Questions ... ... And I'll Tell You No Lies

Ask Me No Questions ... ... And I’ll Tell You No Lies

- Kristin Butcher

“HOW ARE YOU?”

It’s a question bandied about throughout the day by everyone from lifelong friends to the convenience-store clerk. Yet more often than not, it’s a question punctuated with a period–a rhetorical greeting as American as apple pie and flags made in China.

“Great,” we assure with a grin and a nod. The words slip effortlessly past our lips even though the smile stops below the shadowed rims of our tired eyes. “And you?” 

“Livin’ the dream.” 

Perusing social media, you’d think the world was sprinkled with magic fairy dust ensuring every day involves bikes propped against beautiful backdrops and home-cooked meals that never end up looking like parboiled vomit. It’s easy to begin believing that we’re the only ones lacking directions to the magic fairy-dust store, but it only takes hopping in a car during rush hour to prove fairy dust doesn’t exist.

There are plenty of good days, many of which strive to the level of greatness. But spliced between are the days we don’t talk about. The bad days–the even worse days. The days we discover someone we love is gone, even though they’re still in front of us looking just the same as the day before. The days when failure gives us a sucker punch that brings us to our knees or the job we always counted on is ‘consolidated’ at the worst possible moment.

When the flag-stoned path ahead turns to rubble, we are given the painful reminder that we can only control ourselves. So we put on dark sunglasses and fill our packs to the brim with water. We don’t have a plan, but we have a goal. We need to escape the suck.