The thick of summer is here. The days are long and sweaty, and there’s that sense of responsibility tapering off. It can’t be helped. It’s ingrained from youth, the most powerful fixer we humans have. Can you feel it? It’s almost like nothing in the world could suddenly change and give rise to gutting, devastating effects on all those it touches directly and indirectly. In summer, it feels no one could ever finally make good on their promise to hurt you.
Of course this isn’t the case in practice. The world keeps turning—I’ve heard that Earth’s turn is why we get the season in the first place!—and with the spin comes fresh news. It’s enough to want to look around and find less intense news. Like disaster lite, or some such thing.
Ah, yes, here’s something. Look at this: Ben Affleck’s 10-year-old son, Samuel, got into a Lamborghini on a car-rental lot in Los Angeles, while his father and future stepmom, the Bronx’s own Jennifer Lopez, looked on, and backed it into a BMW.
That even makes it all sound more dramatic than it is. Affleck and Lopez were there too, standing by like good parental figures, and the cars barely even touched each other. The Lamborghini gave the BMW a little tap. Just a kiss. A nearly imperceptible swipe. An employee even told Page Six, “When [Samuel] got into the car, it jerked back and forth. We have a small lot, and the cars are close. Everybody was OK! They seemed happy and continued to browse.”
This wouldn’t be a story except that, per usual with these two superstars, a photographer was there to capture it. But aren’t the stakes of it all kind of gratifying right now? It’s just a kid experiencing a little oopsy while an active, engaged parent is there to tell him it’s okay and give him a hug. It’s probably more of a tragedy that Lamborghinis come in SUV sizing.
Anyway, the world keeps turning, and we learn and grow and deal with what we must whether it’s small, Lamborghini-shaped potatoes or the bigger, more consequential stuff. And if it’s the latter, I guess it could help to imagine Ben Affleck giving you a hug and telling you it’s going to be okay. And then imagine he used whatever money he was going to spend on a car to fund something good in the world.
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