What a Long-Lost Friend Emailed Me Today…
We last saw each other in London more than two decades ago.
I haven’t been in touch with her for years, so I DM’d her to ask if she was still alive. That was about six months ago. Today, I received an answer. I find that many people in South Africa can’t afford to use Facebook or the Internet, or, for some reason, they simply don’t. It’s an occasional thing for them.
I know what my long-ago friend means — she went to church religiously, was divorced twice (as far as I know), did her jobs well, had financial help from her parents, and, at one point, heard voices speaking to her, and she was convinced it was the American FBI. Doctors told her it was schizophrenia, but she didn’t want to know.
So why the question?
I think we are all sold so much bullarkey about what life is supposed to be. So we shoot for the stars, and when we don’t reach them, we think there is something wrong with us. We are on a never-ending pursuit of one thing or another, and when that doesn’t happen, it feels like we failed.
In reality, we are all only human. Yes, there are those people who reach elevated heights or are born into them — fame, fortune, prestige, status, but it goes without saying that in order for one to have that, many millions cannot. The one…
