You’re stuck in an elevator with an
intriguing stranger. Write this scene.
This stranger looks surprisingly like me,
which is the reason why we struck up a conversation, noticing our similar
physical appearances. We even both grew up in the South, were the same age, and
had the same passions about traveling and finding purpose in life by helping
others, but our experiences and choices along the way were strikingly
different. Turns out, my doppelganger
had lived a very full life, traveling all over the world through working for
the Peace Corps and then becoming head of a non-profit organization helping
those less fortunate than herself, and she was finally settling down, a bit,
although she was still single with no children or family nearby. As she talked, I began to envy all her beyond
amazing experiences around the world and how she had helped others in such a
tangible, real way, but I also sensed a melancholy about her, and I couldn’t
fathom why.
After leaving
the elevator and thinking about the experience, I finally realized where the
melancholy came from. She had done all these wonderful things and assisted so
many, but she had no one with whom to share her life or her passions. She loved
her work and didn’t regret a single one of her experiences, but a different
part of life had possibly passed her by while she was focusing on that. And that’s okay, but it definitely left its
mark on her that revealed itself subtly through her stories.
For me, as
much as I envied parts of the life she had chosen and have my own melancholy
moments thinking about all the traveling I could have done or the different
ways my life could have migrated, I also do not regret where I’ve been because
it fulfilled me in another way. My life choices have also left their mark on
me in the form of emotional scars, bitterness at times, and many, many
character building experiences, but that’s okay too. It’s all part of the
journey that I’m proud to call my own unique life that even my doppelganger
cannot lay claim to. J
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