(To Kaito, 15, and Alby, 13)
Boys,
Something happened on the water recently.
A group of teenagers had been causing trouble in the inlet.
Ignoring the 6-knot zone.
Spraying kayakers.
Laughing when residents told them to slow down.
People warned them more than once.
Nothing changed.
Then one day, a man snapped.
He chased one of them on his jet ski, rammed him, hit him, and ended up arrested.
From the outside, the answer is simple:
Violence is wrong.
But I want to be honest with you.
For a second — just a second — I felt like clapping.
Not because I believe in violence.
Not because I think hitting someone is strong.
But because I felt the frustration of watching rules fail.
When no one listens.
When warnings don’t work.
When the people who follow the rules feel foolish.
In that moment, force can look like order.
But here’s what I realized afterward.
The teenage boy who ignored the rules
and the grown man who lost control
were not as different as they looked.
Different ages.
Different roles.
Same problem.
No brakes.
One didn’t have fully developed brakes yet.
The other turned his off.
And once your brakes are gone, age doesn’t matter.
That day I thought,
“Maybe there is no order at sea.”
No traffic lights.
No police standing on the dock.
Just water, engines, and human emotion.
But that’s not actually true.
The sea has order.
The tide has order.
The wind has order.
Gravity has order.
Nature does not negotiate.
It does not care how confident you feel.
It does not care how strong you look.
If you ignore its order, you sink.
The real question isn’t whether order exists.
The question is whether you carry it inside you.
Because when rules are weak,
when supervision is far away,
when no one seems to be watching,
the only order left is the one you bring with you.
Speed can look powerful.
Anger can look powerful.
But power without control is just instability.
And instability eventually sinks.
You don’t need to be the fastest boy on the water.
You don’t need to prove anything to your friends.
You don’t need to “win” against anyone.
I don’t want you feared.
I want you steady.
The sea is loud enough.
Be the quiet strength in it.
Come home safe.
That’s all that matters to me.
I love you both.
— Mom
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