Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on… Anything that you resent and strongly react to in another is also in you. — Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose

They say that you shouldn’t schlep around an extended hatred of your ex. They say that, if you do, you’ve let your ex win. The ex still occupies your head, living rent-free in your frontal cortex, wasting your wi-fi bandwidth and using your Netflix password without contributing to your well-being or helping with the groceries. Or some such crap.

I’m not sure I buy that. If you don’t at least carry forward some strong aversion to specific behaviors, you run the risk of forgetting why things didn’t work. You repeat the bad choices, recycling the same rom-without-the-com script but with different characters. Or – worse yet – you appear in the poorly-reviewed sequel: same cast, different director, smaller box office, 30% on Rotten Tomatoes.

With ‘Little Trauma Things,’ Please Be Kind internalizes the dislike. They don’t hate the person, they hate the self-observed changes wrought by a previous proximity to the induction coil of the now-departed personality. The list of grievances is long and footnoted, but is amended with a reminder that the present person still lives outside the reach of the other’s anger.

I hate the way
you made me hate my name
I hate the way
you made me go insane
I hate the way
you made me hate Death Cab
I hate the way
you made me hate like that

And I won’t let my trauma define me
And I won’t let your rage
lodge itself inside me

‘Little Trauma Things’ opens quietly, as dysfunctional relationships often do, muted piano and wistful voice setting a scene of smoldering regret. Tension and determination build, ending with keyboard strings that recall an unhappy B-side by the Beatles.

Please Be Kind self-describes as an Orlando-based queer solo act playing twinkly sad songs. The actor playing the songs is Trina Perry. ‘Little Trauma Things’ appears on their new five-song EP, Of Blue, available on Knife Punch Records.

Please Be Kind’s music is available on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music. And be sure to follow Please Be Kind on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.