And on that evening when we grow older still we'll speak about these two young men as though they were two strangers we met on the train and whom we admire and want to help along. And we'll want to call it envy, because to call it regret would break our hearts.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the complexities of admiration and envy towards others as we age, highlighting our desire to help and connect, while concealing our feelings of regret.
In this quote, Andr Aciman captures the bittersweet emotions that come with growing older and reflecting on the lives of others. It emphasizes how we often disguise our deeper feelings of regret with admiration, especially when we look back on lost opportunities or unfulfilled dreams. The idea of viewing these young men as 'strangers' suggests a distance created by time and circumstance, yet there remains a longing to support and connect with them, revealing the dual nature of our emotions—both envy for their potential and a hidden sense of loss for what we ourselves may not have achieved.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a reunion to reflect on how we've changed and what we admire in others.
As we walked, I began to wonder what the opposite of molting was and why, unlike the body, which sheds everything, the soul cannot let go but compiles and accumulates, growing annual rings around the things it wants and dreams and remembers
Perhaps we were friends first and lovers second. But then perhaps this is what lovers are.
It is in our faults and failings, not in our virtues, that we touch each other, and find sympathy. It is in our follies that we are one.
LA is the loneliest and most brutal of American cities.
No woman wants an abortion as she wants an ice cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion as an animal caught in a trap wants to gnaw off its own leg.
Ten long trips around the sun since I last saw that smile, but only joy and thankfulness that on a tiny world in the vastness, for a couple of moments in the immensity of time, we were one.
I leave CNN with the utmost respect, love and admiration for the company and everyone who works here. This has been my family and shared endeavor for the past 27 years, and I am forever grateful and proud of all that we have accomplished.
Almost without exception alcoholics are tortured by loneliness.
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