Who He is to Me
My whole life, my brother has been younger than me; but it has never felt that way. I made the messes, he helped clean them up; I was the instigator of family arguments, he was the peacemaker. He was mature and I was childish. His maturity then pales in comparison to the man he has become now.
The brother I have come to know is so perfectly different; he was always this way before, but now he has embraced it. He no longer conforms to the ignorance of this world and its people. This bravery is no better represented than by his candor; he refuses to cower to the appeasement of others. He is the only person I know whom I can ask a question and receive an honest response. His expression of ideas is art; thoughts exit through his speech with a hammer of charisma and a nail of conviction.
When I have the privilege of spending time with him, I no longer feel alone in my thoughts. He has the same depth as me, the same depth that most people discard. They only know of surface level conversations of secularities that have no significance. Jake willingly engages in trying conversations and challenges my foundation of thinking with his brilliance. This is the reason why I have no hesitation when an opportunity to spend time with him presents itself. More than this, he lives life with only the validation of his own mind and for him, that is enough.
I do not know many factual things about my brother, like what his favorite color is, what he does in our time apart, his greatest losses and victories, nor his daily life. But I do know that we share the same aspiration: to live a fulfilling life. We both accept the necessity of finding the great unknown and that is why we are so different from everyone else. We do not indulge ourselves in the tempting distraction of a busy life; we search for truth and meaning behind our souls finding homes in bodies on a planet spiraling in an infinite universe.
I am not sure that my brother sees me for all that I am, but I see him. He is completely captivating, and I worry that the more people see what I do, they will take my place in his life. I know I am not worthy to have him, but I am so thankful that I can be around someone that shares the same depth and appreciation for life as myself.
In the story of my life, there are not many characters; I know I am probably a minor character in his, but for me, he is the highlight of my chapters. Even though I don't get to talk to him that much, I am blessed to even get to at all because nothing is owed to us in this world except for the matter inside of us to remain untouched by creation and destruction. However, we are touched by everything else: love, life, pain, happiness, death, and most of all, people.
Jake touched me. But he is not just limited to the roles he has played in my life, memories, and story. To me, he is a real beauty in such a fake world, and no rarity can ever compare to that.
