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Today was a trip for sure! I worked, but had a huge break in between where I got to chat it up with one of my old high schoolers who used to come to a Youth Group that I ran some time ago. I hit him up recently to see how he was doing, and he told me that he wasn't feeling so good so I gave him a call on my break between work. He told me about his dad and a whole bunch of personal issues he had with him. Basically, his dad was an abusive person with anger management problems, and his mom couldn't get away because she didn't have papers that would allow her to stay in the US so she was stuck with him. His poor mom was constantly verbally abused by the man! She also works three jobs, one of which is a job she got for her husband but she ends up doing it for him! She pays for the house, the cars, and her children while her husband just wastes time at home being a garbage human. Basically, he has been doing what he can to just stay sane in that situation, so I just listened to let him vent a bit. In this scenario, I genuinely have no clue what he should do. My best solution was for him to have his mother cheat on her husband and find another dude who's willing to marry her so she can stay in the states! As brutal as it sounds, he even thought that was a good idea, but in the end, is it really the best solution?

There will always be a problem that you can't solve, something of a Catch 22 where every choice you make will end up being a bad one. However, what I consider to be important during these Catch 22 problems is how well you can handle yourself regardless of the outcome. When faced with a bad solution no matter what, be prepared for the consequences of what will follow and learn not from the choice you made just then, but rather from the choices that led up to the Catch 22. It's like playing chess against your life. Sometimes, life will try to back your pieces into a corner where you have to choose between two of your pieces to sacrifice against the knight that slipped past your defenses. When that happens, learn from the mistakes that led up to your loss and make sure that it doesn't happen again. The consequences of the choice are something you will have to live with, so don't beat yourself up anymore about them, but rather learn to adapt to the consequences and move forward. My friend is in such a scenario where his mother can either divorce the man and end up deported, or cling to him and suffer the abuse. Perhaps cheating and finding a new man who is willing to marry her to keep her in the states can get rid of that pesky knight that is threatening those two pieces, but regardless there are things that need to be learned here. The main one here is to be wise when choosing one's partner. If you are reading this, learn from the mistakes of others, for it is one way to improve your own discernment.

I chatted with him for a couple hours, we played DBZ Dokkan Battle, I helped him set up a workout plan to get swole like Goku, and we just simply talked about life. He's a good kid and I really want the best for him.