my ramblings on reading between the lines.

Once... I asked a toaster "Is it that you are this old and accomplished and yet without a girl? " He said to me... "I have a girl... but we have issues and I'm absolutely stealable." Damn I liked him. It was tempting to jump in with both feet. But then, I read between the lines. He has (*not had)a girl... they have issues... (not had... they are trying to fix the issues)... and he is willing to stray for a while and ultimately find his way back to her. I wasn't hurt by that realisation... I was taught. I smiled like it was funny and left with a heart ready to burst. But I left with my shoulders squared and would today look at the whole issue and smile... because now, It is genuinely funny. How could he have been so smart and how could I have been so smarter because even as I looked into his eyes with all innocence (or seeming innocence) I can remember vividly thinking... "this is such a terrible bore." He saw me as a distraction... I saw him as big bag of boring bones. At least I distracted him. So many things about life leaves conscious and unconscious impressions on us. Life is what it is... something to be enjoyed and appreciated. I have however come to the discovery that very few people will go out of their way to make things easy for you. That is your duty... your personal responsibility. Everybody wants to be happy, and very few will actually try consciously not to hurt anyone in their quest for happiness. The issue is not for you to make everyone like you enough to not want to hurt you... it is not possible. the issue is to be able to recognise the many times in life when people will need something and will try to take it even if will hurt you. The issue is to realise that sometimes... even though you also want what that person seemingly wants, you are better off without it. There is never going to be a time when the world doesn't swallow the weak, when fish don't eat each other for growth, and when even humans literally or figuratively ride roughshod over fellow humans in order to get what they want. It is left to you to decide if you want to be the victim or you want to be the... whatever the opposite of victim is. I guess it was fair.