My favourite quote has a bit of a story to it. Explaining why I love it so much. I came from a very sheltered childhood. My parents moved to this small, little town in the middle of nowhere when I was age 5. It was far, far away from any of their families. So while I grew up, my parents would never leave us anywhere so that they could have a fun night out, go away for a weekend without us children or leave us somewhere for a holiday without children. I slept over at friends' houses from very early on, so it's not because they were super paranoid. I guess it was a combination of having no one to leave their children with, and not feeling the need to do it.
So imagine growing up in a VERY small town, rarely going anywhere and except for sleepovers with friends, never being away from your parents, ever. Then, age 18 after school, you're send away to study at univarcity in the big bad city with the prospect of going home one weekend every term (a term is about 10 weeks long), and 4 holidays a year. It was very, very hard on me, a total mommy's girl. I missed my parents to the point of being in physical pain. I missed my home. I missed my things. I missed my school friends. I missed the quiet, country life. I hated the city. I hated the people in the city. I hated the fast pace, the noise, the traffic, the sheer number of people. I hated the difference in cultures which made me feel different and awkward. I missed my language (city was English mostly, while everyone, black and white, spoke Afrikaans where I came from). I missed the values and integrity I was raised with in the country. The city girls were just... different.
I was very lonely. I did make an exceptionally good friend. She too came from the country, had very high standards and morals and we were very similar. In time, I created a small niche for myself, filled it with like-minded people and I grew up. I met my husband and enjoyed studying so much in the end that I also did my Honors degree full time. But in the beginning, it was very, very difficult.
In that time of missing my parents and school friends, I read this short story about a girl who was so very very lonely. Her loneliness was so profound, that it attracted a being from outer space. It flew to earth, contacted her and gave her a message before it passed away. Of course, everyone demanded to know what wisdom it parted to her. What secret intelligence did it possess. But, it was only a message. A message for her, that really touched my soul, because at that moment, I could relate and understand. The message meant the world to me in a time I needed to know that I wasn't alone. That even though it felt like I was the only person on planet earth, I wasn't.
“There is in certain living souls a quality of loneliness unspeakable, so great it must be shared as company is shared by lesser beings. Such a loneliness is mine; so know by this that in immensity there is one lonelier than you.” - Theodore Sturgeon
No comments:
Post a Comment