To the Editor:
Thank you to everyone who braved the line at Mott’s! We, as well as any business should, truly appreciate you standing in that line just to get in! We want it to be worth it. We try our best, and we really wanna help get your day going and make it good. The wonderful acquaintances I’ve made down in Mott’s help fill my life up so well! We’re sorry for any bad moments and mess-ups; thank you for taking the time to get in, it’s appreciated! All the locals — it’s safer now to come in!
Thank you for all the fellow drummers who helped me bang out the rhythms for the Built On Stilts dancers and audiences! Some could not make it, and I totally understand! That whole festival, that occurrence, in that incredible building, open to all, end of summer, the beautiful folks involved, including, equally so, the audience, art! Glorious art, always in the mind of the beholder, well — thank you to everyone who was there! They all help create and fuel that great energy.
Now a bit of advice, and we all have some; here’s a touch of mine: Try to live your life well, try to help others, try to understand others, try to be as kind as you can to people and animals. We all have our awful moments. We all have tempers. Those of us living and working here, in the summer and year-round, can get utterly exhausted by August. But everyone has a right to a vacation! To take a trip — if folks don’t come here, we’re screwed. I would consider it a blessing to anyone who simply has a home here to even come and be at! What a wonderful place to be able to come to! I’m happy for them, truly, this is a wonderfully wacky, beautiful, wee isle in this crazy nutty world. By August, with sleep deprivation setting in, crowds can wreak havoc on a person’s soul. Much like in an overcrowded house, peace can be so hard to find, but try to at least to be understanding.
Lastly, try to live your days so that when you go to bed, as much as you can muster, you have your affairs in order. Try to mend any ill will or arguments with folks. Now, this is obviously not always even remotely practical nor possible. I may be losing a parent soon. And as an EMT, I have seen a fair bit of loss in the ambulance, on the side of a road, in someone’s home, etc. I get it. And some of us were not blessed with a good childhood or parents, unfortunately. Some of us may have been dealt an absolutely horrendous “hand of cards” this time around at the game of life. I’m in good with my incredibly fantastic parents, and I utterly love them and am so proud that I am their son, and that they made me and raised me so well. No one is perfect!
My point here, my advice, is this life can stop at any moment for any of us! The people we love, our beloved pets, and even the people we liked just days ago but are now fighting with! Again, sometimes it all can simply not be “cleaned up and made well” by the time you shut off the lights and go to bed, and that’s totally understandable. But for some, that might be your last chance. Even if you are mad at someone right now, just text them and say, “I do not want to talk, I’m still mad, but hopefully, maybe someday, we can be friends again and it will be better, I hope you are well.”
Hug someone you feel you should. Take that trip, go on that dinner date, go parachuting, get a selfie with a friend, etc.
We all have our beliefs in what might be to come after we cease to be in this current life; maybe we’ll all end up at some huge, gigantic block party in the sky, and can than walk up to that friend we lost in school, that mother, that doggie, and hug them again and talk and laugh. Maybe not. Try to live a good life and be kind to others, help someone, and mend bad things when and if you can. When it becomes utterly and absolutely finalized, anything left undone can be painful.
OK, I’ll shut up now! Peace.
Scott Hershowitz
Oak Bluffs
