There's An Island, There's No Boat

You think you got no options?

Let me tell you--

Let me tell you something

Focus on me, okay?

All your focus

Right here

Now--

You

Have

Options

The woman who comes in here

And vacuums these floors

And smokes out there next to the dumpster

In front of the ‘No Smoking’ sign?

She’s got options

We all have options

And you?

You’re young

You’re younger than me

And I’m still pretty fucking young

And that has nothing to do

With what I’m talking about

It’s not about options

I’m talking about options

You think you’re on an island now?

Then where’s your boat, huh?

You got an island
But you got no boat

So you gotta build a boat, right?

You know how to build a boat?

You know what to do?

Fuck if I do

I don’t know how to fry an egg

I don’t know how to jump rope

I don’t know how to do that deep breathing thing

All the other counselors talk about

It's just breathing, right?

Can you believe there are ways to do it?

Like, isn't your body

Just supposed to know, you know

Do it the right way

Without you doing anything?

I breathe

I breathe some more

I’m alive

And you’re alive

That's breathing

What else is there?

And this?

This is not a motivational speech

So please

Please

Don’t mistake it for one

There’s an island

There’s no boat

There’s you

What are you gonna do?

What are your options?

There’s a poster over there

That talks about absence

And there’s another poster

That talks about freedom

Which poster

Do you like

Best?

Most people like

The one about freedom

But they remember the one

About absence

Because there is nothing lonelier

In this world

Than freedom

And so really

We should just nail

One poster in front of the other

And call it a day

You are a lost young soul

But you are not

Without options

You are not

Somewhere

Where you can’t find a way

To be free

But I can’t make you free

I don’t know how

I wouldn’t even know

Where to start

There’s an island

There’s water

There's fish

There are trees, maybe?

Palm trees?

Maybe?

Who knows?

And there are two people

Sitting in the sand

Shoes off

Talking

Just talking

One saying to the other--

Please

Please don’t think

This is it

This is not it

A dead end still has a road behind it

It still has a--a--a--

A way you came, right?

So go back

Or don’t

Or don't go back

Drown

But see?

Even at a dead end

With no way back--

There's a way back

Options

I can tell you they’re there

Can I see them?

No

Do I--

Please, now

Focus

Just focus

Sometimes all somebody can do

Is tell you something’s there

Even when they don’t know

If it is

That’s called hope, you know

That’s called

Giving you hope

It’s like giving you air

It’s like giving you something less than air

But it’s something

It’s still something

You’re not the first person

To sit in that chair

And listen to me go on and on

About all this

But I’m on my own island

And my way out?

My boat

That I can’t build?

It’s gonna be you

You or someone like you

Teaching somebody like you

To swim