Confession

One might not realize, from what one reads on sites and blogs around the internet, that five times as many teenage boys commit suicide than girls. Young men have, too often, looked to the rope or the gun as the solution to their torment, where confession has been the salvation of many young women since long before the internet existed.

Confession means admitting to ones sins, that is, recognizing who one is — the faults and failings as well as the strengths and successes. There is a reason to put this into words. It is so we can understand it, recognize ourselves for who we are.

As Flannery O’Connor put it, “I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say.” So if young people ‘whine’ a bit, that’s a good thing. If they write confessional poems, good or bad, it’s all part of better understanding themselves.

I’m still discovering that, at my age. It goes on all ones life, I suspect, if one is truly living.

Stephen Brooke ©2013