Ordinary Handsome

Things changed. Big changes, the kind that could challenge their faith. There was ignorance in childhood, but also innocence. It was their shield.

Even cruelties abided by faith. You could be struck, but it did not break you. You could cry, but it would not ruin you. You could be bullied, but it did not stop your heart. Their innocence kept them from the hard thoughts, issues of their own esteem. The hard thoughts were for later, when they were older and smarter and well-equipped. There were no real hard things in their lives, nothing that could permanently impair. There were the ragged emotions, the unwanted corrections, the politics of the school yard. But their faith was solid, in their friends and in their family. It was a rough code, but it worked.

Innocence was an easy thing to believe in.