See You Later...

Some people say that it is very lonely to live in a big city. Is it possible to be lonely in a place where one constantly bumps into people? Jakarta has 9,000,000 inhabitants. A solitary moment is physically hard to come by. I don't think loneliness actually has anything to do with the number of people around you. I've been in a room full of people, friends and family and felt completely alone. It has more to do with the connection you have with others, or God, or anything else. It is selfish, because often loneliness comes from shutting people out. When you refuse to connect with people; when it is easier to dwell in sorrow and feel bad for yourself.

The past few years, I've been really lucky to strike friendships with some very special girls. What started as a work relationship, slowly grew to be a personal one and now we're simply friends. We no longer work with each other, and we don't even see each other that often, but we're friends. And you have to treasure these friendships.

Having lived in another country and worked with a legion of expatriates, parting is a common thing. People come and people go. But it's still not something easy to get used to. One mourns the loss of a loved one, even when the last words said were, "See you later..." Later being the indefinite notion of time, albeit an important one because it implies a moment to look forward to rather a final good bye.

There's that saying that parting is such sweet sorrow. Pray I get to learn what they mean, when my good girl friends embark on the next journey of their life.

As I was thinking about these thoughts, I came across this movie last night. REIGN OVER ME. A drama with stellar casts that highlights things like, life, love, friendship, loneliness, loss and mourning. It might not reach the height of drama and it lacks grip, but the issues raised were more than fitting to my current state of mind.