Perception

You can be sitting there, and people can wander by, and you can be amazed at life, at variety, at potentiality. Or you can dwell instead on the lost opportunities you are now reminded of, of the friendships cut short, the passionate love affairs never started - a myriad of reason for both.

Life is clearly a balance sheet. When the ledger is so deep in the have not column, that is when you begin to question your existence. Be warned: do not tell people "how wonderful" their life is. You have no idea. What outwardly to you might seem pleasant enough, is the dark pit of hell to them.

People laugh when I tell them I have this blog, because what other reaction can they have? They are not at my station in life. And good for them, really. But what may be a smiling face to you is a stark reminder of an accumulation of failure on a scale you can't comprehend, while the sun shining becomes nothing but a triviality at best, or the mid-day sun of Phoenix.