My letter to my pen friend Sinje was to go from Atlanta to her home in Switzerland. Do not know how the letter managed to get itself sent to Ho Chi Minh City first!!!
And why do they have a standardized stamp for “Missent to Ho Chi Minh City?” How often do they do that?
Ah, well! I guess let “Saigons be Saigons.” At least the letter reached her!
They try telling me that you came from nothing and you eventually became nothing. That I came from nothing and that I will go back to nothing. So, why think about it?
But this is where I agree with Eric Weiner’s words and disagree with the world.
The nothing that was before you were born is not the same nothing that is now that you are gone. One is a nothing that was always nothing while the other is a nothing that was once something. That makes a difference.
The void in space is not the same as a mine in the earth. Both are nothingness. But those nothingnesses are different because they are defined by the proximity to what was.
And what still is.
Just the other day, these two used to run around the rug in our living area singing silly songs.
Now they are discussing how to fight back peer pressure and parental pressure and make career choices that align with their passions.
When I was their age, I can honestly admit that I had not the faintest clue what I wanted to do in life.
Kids are getting smarter with every generation. And that is the way it ought to be.
