MISSED

Lil Peep has died.

Those who mistook his brilliance will dismiss him as the drug-addled voice of a self-indulgent generation. I knew him to be a visionary who spoke with a voice that his fans endeared more than that of their parents or priest.

… This Post Is For You …

Shortly after Kurt Cobain died, Andy Rooney dismissed his life without understanding his influence on a misunderstood generation. At the time, Kurt Cobain’s voice was endeared to me more than that of my parents or my priest.

Times have changed but I understand how Lil Peep fans feel today.

Your parents cry at night. When you are fast asleep or out running around, they are worried sick about you: confused as to how to connect with you, scared, out-matched, alone….. the same way you might feel walking the halls of your high school….. the very reason you sought solace in Lil Peep’s rhymes.

When we don’t understand we act with divisiveness. We seek to control that which we do not know by offering a profundity in counterpoint. There are rules to be followed and a system for advancement and you are called upon to plug-in. While convenient in avoiding emotion, there is no systematic approach to making yourself a better Human Being. The best you can do is listen and try to understand…. even when you don’t.

You’ll get older and the things that seem astronomically important to you right now will cease to enter your mind. You’ll grow out of your t-shirt and your boots will wear out.

I can assure you of this:

The friends you have now will always be there for you. You may grow apart and find different life pursuits, but your true friends will seem as familiar to you after a 20 year hiatus as they do sitting next to you right now.

Social Media and email and text are devoid of emotion. There are facial expressions behind words that you don’t get to see in the eyes of an emoji. People lash out and say things they do not mean when they are confused (and some of it cannot be erased).

The politics you practice, the team you support, the person you choose to love, the religion you practice or the music you love are not significant to the people who love you… they just love you….. some times they express their love in ways that seem anything but supportive.

You will find someone to love and they may break your heart. Your best friend might move away. You may get sober. You may get high. Someone you love will die. Hopefully, you’ll bring children into the world.

Today you may be confused. Life won’t get much easier to understand. Being confused is cool. Being confused means you have a passion within you that overrides logic. Logic is boring. Predictability will only make you a less-interesting person. Celebrate your confusion by expressing yourself in any way you see fit…. even if through the identity your musical influences bestow upon you. Tattoos don’t wash off but no one is going to blame you for being young.

I bet your dad would want to wear about your day, or the boy you love, or the girl you love, or your interpretation of Awful Things. He probably won’t ask, you may have to pry it out of him… in the same way he is insistent to know if you are on drugs.

Your parent(s) will have an influence on you that is different from that of your friends. Both of the aforementioned parties will have good and bad advice that may be beneficial at certain times. Some times bad advice is reassuring. Some times good advice calls upon you to get your shit together. It’s hard getting your shit together… there are plenty people many years your senior who still haven’t figured it out.

You don’t need to decide today what you want to be when you grow up (regardless of your age). Stay young, have fun, celebrate the people who love you and ignore the people who do not.

I hope we can celebrate Lil Peep’s life and the music he has left for us. I hope people will understand the challenges of being young and seek to understand how to provide guidance instead of instructing. There is a difference.

I’m hopeful…. you should be too.

Nothing is too important. Regardless of the affront others assume, anyone would drop everything to help you. I promise you, this is the truth!

There are times when we feel like hope is lost but it is darkest before the dawn.

Your time is now. Celebrate Everything! Allow no one to dismiss what you feel to be important. Seek to understand and to be understood. Don’t allow presumptions to separate you from the people you love.

“I’ve got your little heart in my hand & I don’t wanna break it”

There is only LOVE! Stay Safe!

• Dave