Knowledge and communication
This is a bit off of what I usually think of as apropos for this blog, but what the hell:
Today my extended family celebrated my grand-uncle's 90th birthday. After the party, I learned that one of my cousins had been abandoned by her husband. Of course, "abandoned" doesn't entirely cover it, since he cleaned out all their bank accounts and other finances, and just up and disappeared one day. No one knows where he is, even now.
The thing that gets me is, they were married for as long as I can remember, certainly almost as long as I've been alive, seeing as they have an 18-year-old son... who's barely gonna be able to graduate from high school now, in shock as he is, and I can't say I much blame him.
The whole sorry business just makes me wonder whether or not we can truly ever trust other people. I mean, not that I was a fly on the wall for their entire marriage or anything, but... two decades plus, and it ends with that kind of betrayal? I can't wrap my mind around that at all. Recently, I was watching an episode of Six Feet Under in which one character said to another: "Nobody ever really knows anybody else. If you think they do, you're living in a fucking dreamworld."
Before today, I would have dismissed that sentiment out of hand. I still would, in a way, if only for its absolutist denial of alternatives, but I understand it better now.
Today my extended family celebrated my grand-uncle's 90th birthday. After the party, I learned that one of my cousins had been abandoned by her husband. Of course, "abandoned" doesn't entirely cover it, since he cleaned out all their bank accounts and other finances, and just up and disappeared one day. No one knows where he is, even now.
The thing that gets me is, they were married for as long as I can remember, certainly almost as long as I've been alive, seeing as they have an 18-year-old son... who's barely gonna be able to graduate from high school now, in shock as he is, and I can't say I much blame him.
The whole sorry business just makes me wonder whether or not we can truly ever trust other people. I mean, not that I was a fly on the wall for their entire marriage or anything, but... two decades plus, and it ends with that kind of betrayal? I can't wrap my mind around that at all. Recently, I was watching an episode of Six Feet Under in which one character said to another: "Nobody ever really knows anybody else. If you think they do, you're living in a fucking dreamworld."
Before today, I would have dismissed that sentiment out of hand. I still would, in a way, if only for its absolutist denial of alternatives, but I understand it better now.
posted by Jon at 9:06 PM
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