I have a friend who recently received a stage four metastatic cancer diagnosis. She’s young, this is so unfair. But she’s a deeply religious person. She’s luminous in spite of the diagnosis. Looks incredibly elegant, has an unquenchable interest in others, her life is full and interesting. Being around her is a joy.
Yesterday I visited another acquaintance at her place. She’s completely healthy and, unlike my friend, is blessed with three children. But being at that house was so taxing that Kara wept for an hour after we came back. The house is bombed out, looks like a dump. The bank is taking it for debts. This is not an issue of poverty. The husband has a PharmD and managed to get to this place of devastation from a salary of $120,000. The hopelessness and squalor engulfed these good people. And I promise, these are good people. But there’s no philosophy of life and no grounding in reality. I feel great sadness over this.
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