LALATOWN LIFE

Sometimes in life, something happens that you never expected.

It leaves you stunned.

Most of the time, it’s not a natural disaster.

It’s something people do to each other.

Sometimes you become the victim.

And sometimes you look around and think,

How did I end up here?

After living for half a century,

I’ve learned that those moments exist.

This piece was created as a final addition

to my book, Welcome to My LALATOWN.

What is this about?

It’s about this world.

It’s about people.

And it’s about the moments when people hurt you.

But instead of holding onto that pain,

instead of replaying it over and over again,

I chose to turn it into something else.

I turned it into humor.

And that’s how I got through it.

There are people who are always trying to take more.

Even in the smallest moments.

“Just take two strawberries,” they say.

But someone counts twice and insists,

“It’s still just two.”

And everything starts to twist.

There are times when life makes no sense.

I only asked for directions,

and somehow I ended up at a seminar.

You look to the side — it feels like hell.

You look ahead — still hell.

You look back — nothing changes.

You ask for help,

but no one answers.

There are systems that seem like they are there to help,

but in the end, they tell you,

You don’t qualify.

Paper after paper.

Process after process.

During the pandemic,

I went through moments that were overwhelming.

And I saw how people behave inside those systems.

And that’s when I realized something.

Instead of letting those experiences hurt me,

I decided to laugh at them.

That’s what this piece is.

A quiet way of saying:

You don’t get to take this from me.

There are people who guard things that don’t even matter.

People who hurt others just to protect something

that has no real value.

No one is taking anything from them.

But they still strike first.

They forget the people who helped them.

The people who were kind to them.

And I realized,

I don’t have to live like that.

Because in LALATOWN,

things work differently.

There are people who water lemon trees.

People who make bags just to give them away.

People who hang donuts and cupcakes on trees

for anyone who is hungry.

You take only what you need.

There is a lost-and-found

where you can find your dignity again —

even the parts you didn’t know you lost.

Even a dog’s forgotten tennis ball can be found there.

If you want to eat breakfast three times,

you can.

Even silly jokes are respected.

That is LALATOWN.

And this is my way of saying:

You cannot touch that spirit.

This piece is not about pain.

It’s about laughing at it.

and moving beyond it.