It Gets Better. And Worse. And Then Better Again.

I love the It Gets Better campaign from Dan Savage. I love that LGBT kids (or really any kids) can know that even in the midst of awful bullying, there is hope out there. That there are folks who are like them, and even folks who aren't, who care about them and want to see them make it. Seeing how people have survived middle school and high school and are now succeeding in life can be a really important reminder that when things seem bad, there is hope. Life gets better.

Only, you know, sometimes it doesn't.

There are brighter days, but there will probably be some darker days too. Life is full of loss, love, delight, pain, hurt, discovery, boredom, desire, fun. It's not a graph that has a steady incline, it's a jumbled mess of ups and downs that never stays the same way for very long.

So yes, if things are really bad right now, they will get better. And then they'll probably get bad again. And then better again. And right now, in the midst of the bad, know that there's Someone good who will be with you in all of the ups and downs.

(This was inspired by the following piece from Radiolab. Started listening to this podcast when I run, but heard this one in the car and it took my breath. Taken from David Eagleman's brilliant book Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives. Seriously, don't click away from this page without listening, because it is gorgeous. The piece starts at about 1:30.)