Witnessing a slow-motion catastrophe
I see a younger person about to make the same mistake me and several of my friends made. It’s not my place to say anything. From the younger person’s perspective, I get it. They might burn with the fire of the sun to make this decision, to live the future they imagine it will bring. And that intensity feels right, especially coming out of the darkness and stress of being a young person during and since the pandemic.
I know I wasn’t receptive to life advice, let alone from people my parents’ age who I knew tangentially at best. I don’t know the details of their situation, I’m just superimposing my own experience on what I perceive theirs to be. And it may not even end up being a mistake for the younger person. No one knows the future.
I hope I'm wrong. I'll be there for them no matter what happens. Still. I can see down the road because I've been down the road.
But it's their road.