GOOD
ESSAY
BY SEAN OF THE SOUTH (SEAN DIETRICH) Maybe this will be the year. Maybe this will be the Christmas that erases all the bad stuff that’s happened. Maybe the old year will disappear once the holiday arrives, and all our troubles will be out of sight. You never know. Perhaps some wonderful thing you’ve been waiting for is going to spontaneously occur this year. Maybe you’re about to be happier than you’ve ever been. Maybe a surprise will come out of nowhere. Perhaps you’ll make a new best friend. Or you might get a new job that will put money in your pocket. Maybe the handsome guy in third period English will ask you on a date. Maybe your cancer will respond to treatment. Maybe for once you will stand up for yourself. Maybe you’ll finally be pregnant. Maybe your father, who abandoned you when you were a kid, will call after 30 years and apologize. Maybe you will fall in love. Maybe this will be the year. I know you think I’m full of it, but what if I’m not? After all, this kind of stuff happens every day. So why couldn’t it happen to you? Tell me, why not? I am being serious. I would like you to explain why something wonderful can’t happen to you personally. Go ahead, I’m waiting. See? You can’t do it. You can’t name one valid reason why an event that is life-changingly, unexpectedly awesome can’t take place in your life. Because the one thing we all know about this universe is this: Anything can happen. So, not to point out the obvious, but this means that on a deep level, you are aware that these miracles are always behind the gate. They can take shape as easily as clouds materialize in minutes. They can grow as simply as a sapling becomes a sycamore. As surely as a Buick burns oil. Good things can happen as effortlessly as tragedies. And these marvelous joys can befall entire civilizations at once. Which leads me back to my opening sentence, which was… Hold on, let me look. Ah, yes. Maybe this will be the year. Now, I know that this is all starting to sound pretty far-fetched, but I promise, I’m not a 10 Bham Family December 2021
complete weirdo. I don’t organize my furniture according to feng shui, and I’m not selling an infomercial book series on how to get rich, cut carbs, and get a firm butt in 30 days or less. I am talking to you in solid, feasible, logical terms. Good stuff can happen in your life. It can happen to the entire human race, too. It happens the same way a virus spreads. And we’ve learned a lot about viral things this year, haven’t we? When goodness multiplies it becomes an unseen whitewater flood that even the strongest civil engineers could not dam. Like a torrent that smooths jagged boulders, cuts through mountains, and carves brand-new Grand Canyons into the heart of man. And even though you might not physically see all these good vibes swimming around, believe me, they’re out there. A few days ago, at Dairy Queen, something good happened. It took place about 100 miles north of Minneapolis, in the wintry town of Brainerd. An ordinary guy pulled up to the driveCONTINUED ON PAGE 11
