So, you were right. Thinking the world is full of evil and violence and nothing else - and talking about it seriously and fiercely - it's depressing. I find that, growing up with no politics in the house at all, my opinions in these areas are far from well-informed, more like a child's conception of what it's like to be a grown-up. So more frustrating than my inability to be able to argue anything effectively or have the energy to try to argue anything effectively, is having to listen to my mother, her voice suddenly hard and bitter with frightening conviction, tell me that she has no need for the real world, a world filled with unending hate and violence. This bitterness is scary, it's unlike her, and more than anything I feel that she is unjustified, since she never talked to me about politics and the World, in General, and doesn't seem to know any more than me about the World, in General, than what pops up on her welcome screen when she checks her email, to argue so strongly on the subject.

I find myself frantically scrambling for rebuttals to her statements and I find, pleasantly, that they come easily. But there is so much good, I say. There is so much bad, but so much good. And the real world for you, mother, is full of good. And for me, it's full of good. And for the last couple years, it is filled to the brim with so much good that I really can't believe that I can say, fiercely, much like you, that I would rather be nobody else and that I am content, relaxed, willing to pursue this little life I'm living. So much of life is so good - so many things add up to made a life 'good' - why not just concentrate on those?