My roommate and I were having a chat last night with one of our friends who came over, who was baring a little bit of her soul to us. Not in a painful or embarrassing way, she was just sharing naturally what most people would keep , embarrassed, to themselves.
She was talking about pain and war and how she grew up in Germany hearing stories about the Holocaust but never quite understanding it. To give no justice to the poetry of her thoughts, in summary: she felt like she was living in this strange in-between emotional state. Because she had never experienced such horrible pain or trauma as her grandparents did in WWII (for example), she also believed that she had a much lessened range of emotional capacity- because she hadn't felt true pain, she would also never feel true ecstasy. She wishes that she could
understand war, understand those feelings of wanting to live or die for
something. Because at the moment, she feels purposeless.
I have had thoughts like this before. My roommate hasn't and made it very clear that she thought the friend was a fool for wanting to go through pain. She was preachy and pushy and shut us both up, not because she was right, but because there are times when shutting up is easier than talking to someone who has conditioned themselves not to listen.
It was simultaneously a beautiful evening that I will remember for a long time, and a pretty shit one that I feel uncomfortable thinking about. Judgy judgy.
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