a cold place to be

*stamp* another chop to seal my fate as a cynist.

the world is such a cold place. when will something come that restores my faith in all things beautiful?

i bumped into an old family friend today, one that i have not met for ages. as always, i was respectful and sweet (yes yes, this blog is my alter-ego). she found it appropriate to dump the sad stories of her life onto my lap, 1.5 minutes into our conversation, and all i could do was provide a listening ear. all that i could do.

a typical afternoon soap opera where anything bad that can possibly happen did. her aging husband has alzheimer's and no longer recognises anybody, herself included. no longer the powerful, influential man he was, she finds the family suddenly out of everybody's favour. her daughter's husband left the family two years ago, leaving behind a son that constantly cried for him and god knows what emotional scars. the same old story...met another sexier, younger, more beautiful and perhaps richer or of more influential background. another statistic to confirm my theory of faithless husbands. at the age when she should be reaping the rewards of the seeds she sowed, instead she's running around babysitting her troubled grandson. and airing her dirty laundry for anyone who cares to hear (i was sitting quietly nearby when she was re-telling the same story to a stranger before i greeted her). if our conversation was not cut short by the sudden appearance of another soul, whom she re-told the exact same story, i don't know what other calamity her life story will unfold into....

sigh!

i don't know when i will be less empathetic...when other people's sad tales will not depress me, when i can just let it flow in from one ear and out the other....

anyone has any inspiring stories to brighten my day?