meet JOE

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It was late Friday night while I was blogging away at the internet, 2 seats down from me was a man, swatting at mosquitoes, cursing at the mouse that sticks, and performing a series of dramatic huffs and sighs. I wasn’t paying too much mind at first, but as he grew agitated with the ever-present fluttering and buzzing creatures of the night, I reached into my bag and handed him some repellent. I looked over, late 40s, nice clothes, nice shoes, good watch, well-groomed, but what stopped me was a very sad face, one that looked like it hadn’t really smiled in a very long time. I stopped typing and asked him one question, "so where are you from?" ...a green light to proceed into a mini-life story.

Joe is in his mid-40s from San Francisco. And his description will be in the rambling fashion in which it was told to me: Joe has worked for a very large company making very big money when he felt that there was meaning lacking from his life. To use his words now going through a “mid-life” crisis, so now trying to find something really worth working and living for...but not sure what to do...his partner doesn’t understand, family doesn’t understand, caught in a mental prison where everyday is filled with self-doubt and confusion. Sick of always doing what he is supposed to be doing, and depressed at his thought that all the material things he worked so hard to gain didn’t mean anything...he would maybe like to paint, or write, or teach...or something....not really sure, but do something that has some PURPOSE...feeling lost, feeling lonely, feeling afraid...not wanting to go back to the “real world’, but not really knowing one he would fit into, so he is here, trying to "figure it all out".

There are many Vietnamese here who have very little money, but i have seen light and life in so many of them that glows as beautifully as the lanterns that line the street. But there was no light in Joe. That night i stopped writing about Vietnam, and listened to someone from my country. He reminded me that there is both suffering and joy everywhere.

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Comments

[Laura]

meet JOE
and ......? Tell us you took him to the school!!! He's now a Lifestart sponsor!!! (in an ideal world