I was idly surfing a social networking site the other day, and happened to see the friends I had on my list. The number floored me! There could have been no way I had gathered so many friends in my entire lifetime, so having these people as my friends in the few years of Facebook membership was ridiculous! It sure set me thinking.
There were friends, and then there were friends of the friends, and then some. People whom I have hardly said hello to perhaps, people who had no connect whatsoever with me. Yet, they figured in my list of friends, how ironic!
Well, was it? In the virtual reality, it seemed so... But in reality? Aren't there people in our actual life as well, who are known as friends, even good friends, but how connected are they really to us?
There are these shadows on the periphery of our lives, hovering there because either we do not know how to gracefully let go and move on, or they do not know how to continue the relationship or sever it. They are like the extended friends list on the networking site; only difference is that they continue to be like a burr in the side, for there are shared moments of pain and happiness, and letting go is tough. More so, because the ending of such relationships does not have the finality of death... So it is like those arrows shot up into the abyss of a black hole...
One may expect it to fall back on the earth, possibly wounding the entry point again and again. What also makes the moving on so difficult is the fact that we are expected to continue being what goes into being magnanimous, simply because we have to keep a relationship alive.
It reminds me of a person in an ICU. You know the person is slowly melting away, yet you do all that is possible to keep the person breathing under a ventilator. I would rather the person be under palliative care, and allow an easy transition. Just as I would let a relationship die gracefully, rather than simply prolong the agony by keeping something alive that no longer is.
There were friends, and then there were friends of the friends, and then some. People whom I have hardly said hello to perhaps, people who had no connect whatsoever with me. Yet, they figured in my list of friends, how ironic!
Well, was it? In the virtual reality, it seemed so... But in reality? Aren't there people in our actual life as well, who are known as friends, even good friends, but how connected are they really to us?
There are these shadows on the periphery of our lives, hovering there because either we do not know how to gracefully let go and move on, or they do not know how to continue the relationship or sever it. They are like the extended friends list on the networking site; only difference is that they continue to be like a burr in the side, for there are shared moments of pain and happiness, and letting go is tough. More so, because the ending of such relationships does not have the finality of death... So it is like those arrows shot up into the abyss of a black hole...
One may expect it to fall back on the earth, possibly wounding the entry point again and again. What also makes the moving on so difficult is the fact that we are expected to continue being what goes into being magnanimous, simply because we have to keep a relationship alive.
It reminds me of a person in an ICU. You know the person is slowly melting away, yet you do all that is possible to keep the person breathing under a ventilator. I would rather the person be under palliative care, and allow an easy transition. Just as I would let a relationship die gracefully, rather than simply prolong the agony by keeping something alive that no longer is.
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