I just read "Love Yourself First", Ash Rivera, and I want to punch something. The piece was formal and interesting and well-written, but there was also this closeness it gave off. I imagined the words slipping out of someone's mouth in the darkness, a dirty secret finally exposed to the fresh air. It seems like something that was once hidden - hidden from the narrator, perhaps. Ash introduces us in the first sentence to a guy named Charlie. I hate Charlie. I hope there aren't any Charlies like him in real life. I really, truly do.

    Charlie is an absolute jerk. He told a person he loved them. That person happily believed him. Charlie was good for a while. Then, slowly, gradually, he made the person he loved change. And that person did. And that person kept changing for him, slowly, gradually, without completely realizing what Charlie was doing. What came after was a strange turn of events: Charlie was told to change. Just one part of him was requested. And Charlie said no; "...he said that this was who he was and he wasn't about to change for me."
    "Never let a boyfriend or girlfriend make you feel that you're not good enough, because for someone who truly loves you, you will always be worthy just the way you are." If I ever come across my own Charlie, I'll make sure these words are carved in big, bold letters in my mind. And that I know how to deliver a punch, just like Ash did in "Love Yourself First".