Why Do People Need Certain Beliefs

People always say

we should face reality.

But sometimes,

not everyone

can survive the truth all at once.

—

She always said her husband was good to her.

There was food on the table,

the children were cared for,

they still had family outings.

“He just travels a lot for work,” she said.

Until one day,

a friend called from another country:

“I think I saw your husband with…”

She hung up quickly.

—

He always said his mother loved him.

She raised him alone,

worked endlessly,

played both mother and father.

“She just has a bad temper…

and drinks a little,” he said.

Until a friend looked at the bruises on his arm and asked:

“These marks… what happened?”

He lowered his head, smiled faintly, and went home.

—

The old man always said his son was good to him.

Every week,

his son took him out for tea,

brought the grandchildren to visit.

Until one afternoon,

he overheard his son saying to the child:

“One day, all of this will be yours.”

The old man quietly picked up his coat

and went out to see the doctor.

—

Some people survive trauma through forgetting.

Some split themselves into pieces

just to keep living.

Does that make them weak?

Or are there truths

the self could not yet bear?

—

Some illusions

are not born from stupidity.

Sometimes,

certain beliefs

were once the only way

a person knew how to survive.