I Hope You Know That You Are Better Than They Say You Are

Yesterday, Jessie was sitting on the couch watching the current season of survivor while I was walking out the door. She looked at me, entirely earnestly, and told me about her current favorite to win.

"I want Amanda to win, because I like Amanda," she said. "I liked PG, but now she's gone. And she helped Amanda, but then Amanda voted her off!" she said with a tone of disbelief. "It's so frustrating."

As adorable as it was to watch her fume over the unfairness of the game, it made me a bit sad, too. It's amazing to see the world through the eyes of my sister, thirteen years younger than me. It's sad to see her slowly figuring out that the world doesn't work like your parents tell you it should. It doesn't work like you want it too.

People hurt the people who've helped them. They break promises; they lie and cheat to serve their own means. Insurance companies doesn't pay the money they promised to pay. People eschew the college educations their parents worked to hard to procure. People are given raises on looks rather than abilities. There are millions of examples of ways that the world is not fair.

But my sister, too, is a reminder that things don't have to be this way. A reminder that we come as blank slates, ready to love. A reminder that it may be hard to play fair, to tell the truth, to refuse to take the easy way out--but that these things are always worth the sacrifice made. That it's always right to refuse to compromise yourself, no matter what the cost. It's worth it. Believe me. Believe her.