Jordan Tata
Sep 6, 2018 · 2 min read

Maybe it’s because family and close friends have already clapped for these words which they helped shape over the years. Maybe it’s because they know that you know they are obligated to like your writing because they love you so much, so they stay away to avoid embarrassing you in front of your new friends and avoid any signs of social-media nepotism? Ill-gotten gains, they’d call ‘em. Not her though! ‘Pulled herself up by her own bootstraps!’

Perhaps it’s for the same reason why your dad can’t write a letter of recommendation, and our moms aren’t judges on America’s Got Talent.

It could be some weird subconscious score-settling. After all, you wouldn’t treat a stranger as badly as you sometimes treat those closest to you. Or, “she never did buy those Thin Mints from my daughter last year. Free pass on this one.”

The inability to see people in a dual role is an interesting thought. It’s how Clark Kent got away with it for all those years, and why nobody wants to invest their savings with the nephew who just became a broker.

For me, it’s often hard to gauge what the appropriate level of support even is, so I avoid those situations completely from time to time. Some parents attend every single little league game and practice (even though they aren’t a coach), notwithstanding the fact that their kid couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat! Should the parents continue to support Johnny’s .175 batting average and lackluster defense? Was JK Simmons character on the movie Whiplash correct when he said:

Probably not…

In all seriousness, Your writing is fantastic, and I love it. I literally (and figuratively) think it’s worth on average 100 claps, and pray that isn’t too few or too many to make me seem odd, or the author to appear bought and paid for by having the misfortune of knowing the reader!

PS

I wonder who was the first person to exclaim ’Jesus Christ’ sarcastically?

Who was the first one to shorten it, as in ‘aw Christ, just pick a parking spot’? Probably some uncle or cousin’d be my guess. Why aren’t there other famous names that we shout when surprised? “NICHOLAS CAGE!! You startled me!” Or, ‘Winston Churchill… not again.”

    Jordan Tata

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