Dear Future Daughter,

Innocence is not ignorance, there’s a huge difference.

Think of it this way:

My tiara is my lifeboat and I am sailing along a nervous sea, kept afloat by breath and plastic alone.

Below I see a mysterious and oppressive world waiting for me.

I see darkness.

I see empty love and anxiety

I see taxes and debt,

I see struggles and tears,

I see fear.

So, I raise my chin just a bit higher, high enough to see the incredible wonders that surround me presently.

I see the sky get a fresh coat of paint every few hours,

Textured brushstrokes of color aligning so perfectly it must be magic.

I see the prominence of the green in the islands battle the brown in my iris for dominance.

And I am well aware

That one day my life boat will run out of air.

I know something can puncture its side and then, only then, am I forced to take a dive

And even when I go under I will dance with the mermaids and sing with the flounder.

                          

But for now,

I stay afloat.

 

So many of us grow up too quickly and that epidemic is leaving us empty.

We cannot allow ourselves to become victims of endless pessimism-

This cynicism that pervades, those of us at this age,

Just opening our eyes to the cruelties of the world.

But let us not forget the beauty in the magic we used to implore,

Twirling in tutus,

Wielding plastic swords.

There will come a time when the prince won’t arrive.

Maybe your fairy godmother fails to provide.

Pixie dust won’t bring down ISIS,

And Neverland can’t handle the refugee crisis.

But Peter Pan comforted the children,

And Hercules defeated the mightiest of villains.

Rapunzel managed to escape from her tower,

And Mulan made the whole Hun army cower.

These aren’t just stories or fables of fairies,

But inventories of our fears and hopes,

Allegories of the world we know,

Books our mothers read to us at bedtime,

Characters that stay with us our entire lifetimes.

Just something to believe in.

And if you believe, that won’t make you naïve,

It leaves you immune to the doubt we perceive as wisdom because we are told that these things are just make believe.

 

So,

Wear your tiara to school and laugh at the peasants who choose to ridicule.

When they condescend, and call you cute,

Say I’m the cutest fairy you ever did see.

When they call you a child,

Smile and agree,

And stay a child for as long as you can,

Because as strong as you are princess, you are not prepared for everything beneath your lifeboat.