This post is a collection of my thoughts after doing some people watching and is based off of a comment by Sedgewick on my last post.  If you haven’t already seen it, check it out, it’s the rather lengthy comment.

 

As near as I could tell, the guy at the table next to me had it all together.  He had a shiny new computer, a fancy phone, Oakley sunglasses, and keys to a new car sitting in front of him.  His feet were propped up on the empty chair at his table, and by the looks of it, he was alone.  To me, that was a simple observation, but to this man, an inescapable truth that had haunted him his entire life.  He thought he was good at covering up the void, he had all the latest gadgets, a great loft apartment on the trendy side of town, and a college education.  He looked at first glance like the type of guy who had more friends than he could keep up with, and that was probably what attracted the few friends he did have.  It didn’t start out that way.  In high school, he had more than his share of friends.  He was one of the smartest kids in school and didn’t care that being in the science club wasn’t cool.  His confidence was what his friends admired in him, and it seemed to sedate the constant barrage of questions about his mysterious family life.  His father had been an alcoholic, and his mother had distanced herself from him.  He was one of those kids that had been an accident, and though no one told him that directly, it wasn’t hard to figure out.  Still, he had survived the nightmares he had lived growing up and was determined to be successful.  He went to a university far away on a full scholarship.  On holidays, he made excuses to stay on campus.  As far as his college buddies knew, he had no family.  When he came home from school, he moved into the city and got a job doing what he loved.  Slowly but surely, he erased his past from his life.  He had come from nowhere.

 

To be continued….