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Do People Change?
Posted: February 22, 2012 in what makes us tickTags: change, life, tale, tales, unmaskd
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Let’s face it, most of us have faked something in life. Feelings, expertise, attention, indifference — there’s so many things you can fake. Yes, that thing too. Sometimes faking is necessary, sometimes it’s the most natural thing to do and sometimes it’s even fun. But doing it for too long is a bad idea. It will turn into poison.
Very few things will wear you down as much as constant mask wearing. Pretending to be someone you’re not may be ok for a while, but at some point tiredness kicks in. Regardless of what people think of you, you know you’re a fake. You can fool others, but can’t fool yourself. You feel hollow inside. You want to take that real feeling or lack of interest — whatever it is that you’re hiding — and shove it into people’s faces. You want them to see the real you, regardless of the implications.
But the major danger isn’t tiredness. It’s that once you wear a mask for too long you may become it. Instead of being the genuine you, you start investing more and more time and effort into keeping your mask believable. And at some point you’re no longer living your own life. You’re living the life of a mask you’ve invented. And that’s a pretty pathetic way to live.
P.S. I have no doubt this post will be misinterpreted by many readers.
Waking Up in a New World
Posted: February 1, 2012 in a lonely journey, what makes us tickTags: life
Imagine this situation. A man wakes up in a world he knows nothing about. It’s full of objects he’s never seen before. It’s full of people he’s never met before.
He doesn’t speak the language they speak. In fact, he doesn’t even understand the very basic concepts they rely upon. He knows nothing about their society, history or traditions. He is completely socially handicapped and wouldn’t survive in their world without help for more than a day. For some reason, he also faces enormous physical challenges. He is much, much weaker than people surrounding him. He can hardly move. He can hardly see. He can’t speak a word even when he tries imitating others. He’s completely at their mercy.
And on top of all that he knows nothing about his past. He has no idea where came from. He doesn’t know his own name. He is clueless of who he really is. He has no past and his future is completely uncertain.
Luckily for him, the people surrounding him are nice. They feed him. They keep him warm. They help him become stronger. They also teach him their language, introduce him to the basics of their society, and make him feel more at home. They even give him a new name.
Days go by, and he becomes more and more accustomed to living in their world. Eventually he starts thinking about it as his own world. Occasionally he still wonders who he really is, how he ended up in their world and what his purpose in life had been. But the world around him keeps him busy. There’s so much to learn to become a fully functional member in that extremely complex society. So many things, customs and traditions to understand. So many facts to memorize. So many tiny goals to accomplish. And eventually he stops wondering about his real identity. He’s happy with the one his new world has given to him. He’s just too busy to wonder about things like this. And so he gives up without even realizing this. His happiness is no longer about finding out his real purpose or who he really is. It’s about succeeding in the world he lives in.
It could have been a plot for a sci-fi novel. But it isn’t. This is the story of everyone of us. You. Me. Countless others.
Whether it’s sad or happy, it’s up to you to decide.
The Trick of Alternation
Posted: January 31, 2012 in a lonely journey, motivationTags: commitment, motivation
Nothing worthy can be achieved overnight. There’s a long road to walk. And to walk that road you need fuel. Something to keep you brain and soul committed. A good option is obsession — it’ll get you far. Unfortunately you can be obsessed over anything only for so long. At some point obsession wears off. That’s how our brains are wired — we seek novelty. On the other hand, pure cold logic won’t get you far either. It lacks fire. It lacks passion. It’s simply too cold too keep you going for too long.
The trick is in the alternation. Set your eyes on the goal. Be sure it’s the right one. Make sure you have passion — better yet feel that you’re obsessed. Then go. But once you feel that your passion is no longer as strong as it used to be, let your cold logic kick in. Forget emotions. Just go. Just keep going, step after step, mile after mile, even if you’re completely numb. And then, as you get closer and closer to your goal, your passion will come back. Your cold calculated monotonous movement toward the goal will get you to the results that will refuel your obsession — and it will come back ten time stronger.
Alternation. Has it ever worked for you?
This is probably going to be the most cryptic of my posts so far, and coming from someone who calls himself Unmaskd, that’s saying a lot. But I want to capture and share the feelings of this moment, and for better or for worse, this blog has become my best outlet for this part of my consciousness.
Exactly 365 days from now a bet will come to fruition. It’s a strange bet, made over twenty years ago between two best friends. One friend has likely forgotten it by now. The second friend has never let it go, for it has been very dear to his heart. Despite that, throughout the years he has barely acted on winning it. Instead, he’s been alternating between powerful efforts with impressive results, half-ass attempts and long stretches of well-camouflaged procrastination.
Getting closer and closer to the date that he’d set himself back in his childhood, he realized that unless he does something drastic about it, he going to fall flat on his not so childish face. And so, in the last attempt to win that bet, he made another one — this time with himself. That other bet was simple, pretty much black and white, with no room left for self-deception.
And then strange things started happening. Things that typically happen in lousy written Hallmark channel made-for-TV movies. All of a sudden, his past started coming alive, mixing with his present and shaping his future. People he had not seen in years started popping up unexpectedly in his life, reminding him about his old successes and stirring memories of his decades old aspirations. His friends started reminding him about his ambitions — without having a slightest idea what he had been driving himself through. And goals he almost had given up on started to look real.
And on top everything else, the idea of his own mortality — something he had been always well aware of — suddenly sunk in, bringing in sadness, but also filling every moment of his life with meaning and clarity. Life remained the same on the surface, and yet had changed completely.
And all the masks he had been wearing started merging into one…
Biting the Bullet and Facing the Music
Posted: December 8, 2011 in a lonely journey, what makes us tickTags: unmaskd
Life is full of tough choices. Some are tough to make. Others are tough to live with. But the hardest ones are those that we avoid making — sometimes for years. You keep dancing around a choice like this, pretending it’s not there, but deep in your heart you are fully aware of its existence. And one day you realize that unless your stop the lulling music and face that hard, bloody painful choice, you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering what would’ve been like to make it. You know that once you make this choice, there will be no way back. You’ll be walking down the path leading you to the truth — and that truth may turn out to be truly ugly. But not facing it means living your life a coward. And such a life isn’t worth much, no matter how shiny it may look to others.
I’ve been dancing around a choice like this for my entire adult life. Now my time is running out. It’s always been, but now it has gotten to the point where not making the choice means giving up. So I’m making it. There’s no way back. There’s just a path to walk. And at the end of it lies the truth. Whether ugly or beautiful, it is there and I’ll see it pretty soon.
I’m going to be busier than I’ve ever been, so I’ll be out for a while. So I wanted to stop by and tell everyone who cares that I haven’t forgotten about any of you. I appreciate all the messages you’ve sent to me while I was out and all the kind words you’ve said. This means a lot to me. And I’m stopping by to say “later”, not to bid farewell. I don’t know when is “later” is going to be, but I plan to be back.
I can only smile at all the fresh rumors and speculations related to my identity. People claiming to know who I am, don’t understand the irony of their claims. I, myself, don’t know who I am. But I’m about to find out. It’s so much easier to live believing you’re a genius who failed to realize his potential, than knowing that you are simply a mediocrity with groundless aspirations. But I’d rather die knowing that I gave it all and failed, than spend my life living a sweet comforting lie.
There are very few people in every generation who have the level of talent, will and desire to change the world for the better that Steve Jobs had. He changed lives in ways that go way beyond technology. The biggest tribute to his influence is not the amount of iPods sold or the size of the iPhone market or even the price of Apple’s stock. It’s the amount of people whose lives he touched and made better — often without them realizing this.
The technologies he created or helped create, the devices he made popular, the ideas he made widespread — they have been touching our lives in ways that go way beyond holding a phone or using a Mac. He showed how much a single man can do in his life. He showed that nothing is impossible. He showed that if you can dream something up you can make it real, no matter how crazy it may sound.
He died a legend, because he lived a legend.
We all have our special dates, places and memories. As I mentioned previously, September 28 has become my special date, though not in a traditional sort of way. It just has a special meaning for me, and as it turned out today, for more than one reason. It’s a time to reflect on a year and to think about the road ahead. So it’s not a surprise that I’ve spent a fair amount of time today doing that. And just like a year ago, I’ve realized something new.
Have you ever thought about what makes people respect and cherish memory of someone they’ve never met? Someone who’s lived years before they were even born? There are graves in this world that get visitors every day, year after year. There are names, which are remembered with more just admiration for centuries. I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m sure most of us have some role models — people we respect immensely, who inspire us, who help us become better versions of ourselves. We never knew them, we never met them, we might have been born after they left this world — and yet their presence in our lives goes far beyond their legacy whatever it might be.
It has just occurred to me today why we feel their presence so strongly. True, their accomplishments matter a great deal, but it is not what makes a “larger than life” person so special. We admire accomplishments while reading theirs book, listening to their music, watching their movies. These accomplishments may inspire our own thoughts, and yet they are not what makes presence of these people so special in our hearts. It’s the way they lived their lives.
After all, they were humans too. Yes, they were talented humans — some of them were talented beyond belief — but it is not what makes countless others cherish their names. They faced their share of problems and challenges — and sometimes these challenges were much greater than those that we face. They had the same time to spend in this world that we do, in fact many of them had way less time than an average life span. And yet they found courage to make a real difference. To get so much done. To push their own limits — which they all had — so far out. They found the courage to live. Not to exist, which in the absence of war, crime and suffering is so easy. But to live. To evolve. To prevail in their own struggles. To transform themselves day after day and to end up the people remembered by generations.
They were not bigger than their own lives. They were just bigger than our lives. And that’s why they keep inspiring us. We have our own battles to fight and our own limits to push. But to do that we need to find the same courage to live they had found. For there’s no better inspiration than someone’s Life.
Make It Or Break It
Posted: September 23, 2011 in a lonely journey, motivation, procrastination, what makes us tick
When a year ago I posted my letter from a swamp, many of my readers assured me that procrastination is a very natural thing. You know, some of them said, maybe there’s a good reason for it. Maybe you actually need it. Back then I didn’t agree with that point of view, finding it too convenient and relaxing. But today, a year later, it seems rather attractive. Because seeing it this way would mean that I’ve just done something natural, maybe even necessary, as opposed to just wasting a couple of hours of my life. It would also mean that I didn’t shy away from a challenge, which is what it suspiciously feels like.
About a month ago I set a pretty challenging goal for myself. I was generous and gave myself plenty of time to accomplish it. The deadline is September, 28th — a date that means a lot to me. The goal came with a twist. It was set as a “make it or break it” deal, meaning that if I fail to accomplish it by the deadline, I would never accomplish it. While the deadline was somewhat arbitrary, the “make it or break it” part wasn’t. In the past I’ve made deals like this with myself and the only reason they really worked was that down to the bottom of my heart I knew that it was serious. But this time I maybe a bit over my head. As I get closer and closer to the deadline, it becomes harder and harder to fight the “natural” and “needed” procrastination.
My guess is that by succumbing to it, I’m subconsciously trying to avoid a failure. There would be a internal excuse that would leave some room for “hey, I could’ve done it, had I not been weak” reasoning. But deep inside I know better. Just a few days from now I will either accomplish that goal — or fail. Whether I fail because I’m not capable enough or because I’m not strong enough, the reason won’t matter. A failure will be a failure, no matter how I choose to decorate it. The only thing that matters is the result.
Stay tuned…
Some of you may remember this post. I’m not a big fan of remixes, but recently I came across the most inspirational piece of music I’ve ever heard. Now it all fits together perfectly.
While making this video I realized that it’s been almost a year since I came up with these words. I wish I could say that I had strength to live every one of these 355 days the way I wanted. But at least now I’m stronger than I was a year ago.
Life is a series of realizations, and this blog has turned into a place of documenting mine. Today I’ve realized something new. It’s another old truth that all of a sudden has started making sense…
For a while — at least for 10 years — I’ve been waiting for a moment that for the lack of a better term I’ve been calling Awakening. It’s a moment when everything will become crystal clear. When I will no longer doubt my life’s purpose. When sticking to any decision will be as easy as making it. When every moment of my life will become rich beyond imagination. I’ve never known how — and if — I would ever get to that state, but I’ve never doubted that it getting there is possible. So I’ve been searching for ways to get there, going through some false awakenings, experiencing some glimpses of bright clarity only to realize later that it wasn’t it. I’ve learned to use every failure as a stepping stone and to treat every experience as a part of my path. But today I realized something that changes the whole notion of Awakening.
Awakening is not possible, at least not in a way I’ve been imagining it. Life will never be easy. Sticking to a decision will never be effortless. Doubts about my goals in life will never go away. I will always be the same searching, questioning, doubting human. But what I can get is strength. Strength to stick to my decisions, strength to face — and live with — every choice I make, strength to fully embrace the constant uncertainty that we call life. And that strength — like any strength — can’t be obtained in a moment. It can’t be obtained without an effort. It has to be built. Built with every choice, with every action, day after day, year after year.
And maybe, just maybe, this realization in itself is the closest thing to Awakening that I will ever experience.
Your Life Is Your Most Important Legacy
Posted: August 10, 2011 in a lonely journey, what makes us tick
I wouldn’t even pick up a book like this, yet sometimes I find myself right in the middle of this dull boring story. And every time I have to remind myself that I’m not only its protagonist. I’m it’s author. Not the publisher. Not the reader. The writer. The one, who day after day creates this story called My Life. And while factors beyond my control may prevent me from writing it, when do I write, I am in charge. And this story that I create line by line, page by page will be only legacy. And I wish so much I could erase some pages — or even chapters — but alas, they are written in stone.
But at least I can make the coming pages better. After all, if I don’t make them better, no one ever will. This is my story.
I have two battling souls inside,
Two ever fighting minds,
And every time these two collide
One wins and one abides.
One soul can do what many can’t,
It has a gift of gold.
It knows for certain: it was meant
For greatness to unfold.
My second soul is like a sloth:
Pathetic, dirty, dull.
It’s lazy, but it loves to loath
Its neighbour in my skull.
And every day and every night
My souls want it all,
While clashing in a nasty fight
For ultimate control.
The gifted one has brought to life
Some very worthy things,
Yet weakened by a fierce strife
Has never spread its wings.
And probably it never will
Zoom up into the skies
The sloth is ready for a kill
It’s slow, but rather wise.
I am the one who wins the fight
The winner takes it all.
And in a swamp or in a flight
At last I will be whole.
Google+ Open Letter Impact: 2K views, Facebook account suspended
Posted: July 27, 2011 in Social TechTags: Facebook, google+, social networking, social networks
The headline of this post says it all. The post had attracted more readers in day than my very rarely updated blog gets on a typical week, which it gets mostly through search. In other news, my Facebook account has been suspended for… yes, you can guess it, violation of their real name policy. I believe in coincidences in life, but I’m very skeptical when it comes to pure coincidences in tech. I’ve had Facebook account for a year now, but somehow it got suspended within 24 hours after I mentioned it in my post.
Assuming that someone at Facebook indeed took note of my letter, I’d like to inform this person that I have no slightest intention of disclosing my real name to Facebook users. As for the company itself, most likely it already has this information somewhere in the bowels of its servers, since I’ve been using my other Facebook account from the same devices. Just like in the case of Google+ I have no complaints, since it’s the company choice what policies to to enforce on its sites. It is then users’ choice whether to accept the policy or not. My choice is walk away, taking with me all the social interaction and searchable content that Facebook was getting through my my account.
So far 3 companies (Google, Facebook and Quora) have decided that I cannot use their social services without disclosing my real name to other users. My only consolation is the fact that this leaves me in the great company of people like George Eliot, Lewis Carroll, Ayn Rand and Banksy.
Open Letter to Larry Page: Google+ Is Great. Now Can We Please Drop The “Real Name” Nonsense?
Posted: July 25, 2011 in Social TechTags: Facebook, google+, online privacy, privacy, social network, Tumblr
Dear Larry,
Congratulation on Google+! Contrary to many predictions, you’ve nailed it. Your team has certainly learned from successes and failures of others and it shows. Google+ Circles make targeted content sharing a breeze, the no-strings-attached Twitter-like following is going to be a solid weapon against Facebook, and even the terminology is thoughtful – finally, the word friend in a social network can be meaningful again. But your team didn’t finish the job. For some reason, they chose to imitate a Facebook policy that should not have been touched with a ten-foot long pole.
Two days ago my Google+ account was suspended for violation of your Community Standards. I was informed that in order to unblock it, all I need to do is to provide my real name. This is not something I’m going to do — even if this means being kicked out of Google+ for good — and this is why I’m writing this letter. I’d like to be very clear, it is not about moral principles or consumer rights. In this context, things like this simply don’t matter. Google+ is your company’s product and it’s completely up to Google to decide what policies to enforce. However, as a business decision, it’s a very shortsighted one, since it turns what could have been your major differentiation into a serious weakness.
When after decades of usernames Facebook came out with Thou Shalt Expose Your Real Name policy, it was novel. It is not anymore. Clearly, it has not prevented 750 million people from joining Facebook, but the fact that millions of people have been trained to sacrifice their privacy in order to use a social network doesn’t mean they like it this way. Privacy may be gone forever — and Google knows more about this than any other company in the world — but people still want to feel private. They agree to let companies like yours to watch their every step online, but they still wish to be in control of what they disclose to everyone else. The growth of Twitter and Tumblr is a testament to this. The “real name” condition pioneered by Facebook ignores that desire, and while imitating it may seem attractive now, in long run it’s simply bad for your business.
Self-promotion and attention seeking aside, what people want the most when they join a social network is to be themselves, while connecting with others. “Real name” policy puts limits on self-expression, which is why the depth of connections on a network like Tumblr is orders of magnitude deeper than on Facebook. Facebook connections extend our existing relationships, based on our work, location and background. Tumblr creates new relationships based on who we are or who we want to be. By creating a Facebook-like system with superior features and an open self-identification policy you may have a real chance to beat Facebook in its own game. But when you borrow Facebook’s obsession with “real names” you position Google+ as a cute me-too solution. It may have some superior features, but not enough of a value to drive sizable migration of users from Facebook. After all, how many ways to connect with the same people do we really need?
The deep irony of the situation is that neither Googe+ nor Facebook actually ask for my real name. You only ask for what looks like a real name. I could have called myself Joe Smith or even Larry Page — and your system would’ve let me in, without bothering to verify correctness of my claim. In fact, you already have much more valuable information about me – my IP address, a list of sites I visit, and even my personal communications. And yet, when I state openly that on Google+ I want to be known as Unmaskd, it’s not good enough. Ironically, it is good enough for thousands of people who over the last year have connected with me on Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress, YouTube, email and even Facebook (that somehow let its guard down). These people may be curious about my real name, but they keep connecting with because they are interested in me as an individual, regardless of the sequence of characters printed on my driver’s license. They would’ve connected with me on Google+ (and some of them already did), but alas, your policy prevents them from doing this.
It’s no secret, that when it comes to social networks, it’s not about features. It’s all about getting and keeping a critical user mass. You have a chance to create a next generation social network – one that operates on a huge scale that only few companies in the world can support, yet allows people to be open in expressing themselves. A social network that would actually enrich people lives instead of simply being a utility for connecting with their existing networks. I hope you will use this chance.
Sincerely,
Unmaskd
– Inspired by all the Goodbye-Harry-and-You-Know-Who buzz
The world is too big and life is too short,
You are no Harry and no Voldemort.
Not even a sidekick — bystander at best,
Watching the heroes to go on a quest.
Exit the theater, close the book,
Hear one more sound, take one more look.
It felt so real, but magic is gone
You are not Chosen, you are just one.
One of the many, who fell under a spell,
Those who have dreams, but no story to tell.
Running away from a life so mundane
That in the mornings it drives you insane.
A lie. An escape. But here’s a twist:
Some years ago it didn’t exist.
Heroes and villains, wizards and wands —
Someone like you made them real at once.
Take a deep breath. Close your eyes.
Feel all the doubts melting like ice.
Life may be short, but it can be a ride.
There is magic. Right there. Inside.
This has occurred to me just recently even though the theme of failing and getting up has been a big part of my life for many years. It is so simple that it surely would sound like a “Well, duh!” statement for most people. But to me it has a much deeper meaning. It feels like I’ve found the right words to express what I’ve been trying to grasp for a while:
You don’t know how weak you are until you fall. You don’t know how strong you are until you get up.
But there’s one aspect of that reaction that is not funny no matter how you look at it. It’s the tone of the discussion. Long time ago I said that I was not going to moderate comments and that all opinions were welcome. I also said that I had only two simple rules for comments: (1) Show respect to others and (2) Don’t be a troll.
Clearly, both rules were ignored by some readers. The last thing I need here is judgemental remarks that trigger angry responses. There are plenty of places like this online. This is not one of them. I’m not asking anyone to be nice, but let’s try not to be jerks, all right? Hope this is not too much to ask.
Now, I’d like to clarify a few points that have been coming up recently:
- I’m not experimenting on anyone, other than myself. I have very little respect or people who screw with others’ minds and while I’m certainly capable of doing that, this is not what I’m here for.
- I’m not asking any of my readers for anything, first of all for their trust. As I said long time ago, trusting a stranger who tells you “trust me” (especially online) is a very bad idea. Yes, like any blogger I’m in a way asking for your attention, but it’s completely your choice whether to give it to me. So please, don’t tell me that you can’t completely trust me. I don’t even know what this means in this context.
- I’m not interested in disclosing my ID, at least not in the foreseeable future. The current arrangement works fine for me. Unmaskd has become a channel for me to be completely honest in expressing myself, without caring for any potential consequences. For some good reasons I cannot afford this — at least not to such degree — in other parts of my life. Even more importantly, this channel allows me to connect with interesting people and discuss with them things I care about. Anyone is free to discuss my ID here or anywhere else, but I’m simply not interested in these discussions, beyond occasional jokes.
- I’m not here to keep anyone happy. So when people suggest me to do this or that in order to maintain some level of everyone’s happiness they are missing the point. I won’t allow turning my blog into a sewer, but that’s about it.
- Last but not least, I chose to write my previous post not because of some conspiracy theories. I honestly couldn’t care less. If some people have nothing better to do than spend their time sending some nonsensical messages to someone they don’t know just because they suspect he is someone else they don’t know either… well, I can only feel sorry for them. What made me so irritated was that some of these people apparently went too far and started telling others lies about my identity and my intentions. I had to clarify a thing or two.
With that let’s move on. There are more important things to focus on in my life, and — as I’m completely sure — in yours.
P.S. All right, all right, I admit it. I’m a 54 years old Chinese woman, living in Hong Kong and suffering from a multiple personality disorder. That’s why some people think there are four of us. In reality I just got tired of talking to myself and my chow chow, so I started this blog.
I’m not going to repeat what I said in this post when I found myself surrounded by screaming fans of a guy I hardly knew before that craziness had begun. So if you want some history just read it. But I will repeat loud and clear: I AM NOT JOHN MAYER. You’d think this would be enough, but this is what I thought when I published that long post last year. That however proved to be insufficient. Over the last 6 months or so, some seriously obsessed people have been busy doing some very annoying things. They’ve been busy creating fake twitter accounts and filling my feed with some nonsense, ranging from sexual demands or hysterical accusations. They’ve been busy coming here and leaving some ridiculous comments. They’ve been busy telling others, rather confused people, that I am John who just doesn’t want his identity revealed. Overall they’ve been busy doing pointless, meaningless and pretty dumb things. Because as I’ve already said a couple of times, I’m not him.
I am someone else, with my own life and my set of problems to deal with. And I don’t want to spend another minute of my life dealing with this crazy shit. Am I making myself clear? I’ve been ignoring this, I’ve been blocking the most outrageously ridiculous twitter accounts, I’ve been trying to hint. But I’m not going to do this anymore. This is plain insulting. If you’ve been following me thinking/suspecting/hoping that I’m John, do yourself a favor and direct your time and energy somewhere else. Like living your life and letting others live theirs.
- …It seems that I have lost my confidence.
- Let me see sir. We have a special bin for those. Anything distinctive about yours?
- Don’t know. I’m not sure. Not sure about anything actually… It’s nothing special. Just your average everyday confidence.
- Slightly used, but in good condition? This one?
- Yes!
- Here you go, sir.
….
- I think I lost my conscience. Can’t find it anywhere.
- Sorry, sir, but allow me to disagree.
- How come?
- If you’re looking for your conscience, you haven’t really lost it.
…
- Hey! I lost my patience! I mean I REALLY need it! As in NOW! RIGHT NOW!
- No worries, sir, here it is. Please… allow me… Ouch!
- Thank you. You’ve been so helpful. Why are you so pale?
- It’s ok sir… It’s ok… The important thing is you have your patience back.
….
- You know… last night… I’m not sure how to say it… I lost my… Well… my… my virginity. I mean I think I lost it… Do you have it by any chance?…
- Sorry, mam. Never seen one of these turned in. But it’s ok. You’ll get used to it.
….
- My mind! It’s lost! I lost it! I’m doomed! I’m doomed!!
- Let me check, sir. We had several turned in last night. It’s the season, you know. Overall in a decent shape, higher than average IQ, with a tendency to be pessimistic?
- Yes! Yes! Yes!
….
- I lost sleep…
- Could it be this one, mam?
- Oh, thank you!
- My pleasure. It looks like it’s wrapped up in some groundless doubts, so let me unwrap it for you.
….
- Yo, dude! I lost my cool. It’s gone. Just gone. Can you help me, bro?
- Certainly, Mr. Dude. Certainly. Here it is. We knew you’d stop by.
….
- I lost my appetite. Has anyone–
- Please take it! it’s been smelling like pizza for two days here.
….
- I lost my soul.
- Unfortunately, sir, no one brings here items that were sold to them voluntarily.
….
- I lost my youth. Been searching for it for a while. Can you check if–
- I’m sorry, sir. I’m certain we don’t have it. People never turn these in. Finders – keepers.
….
- Last month I lost my heart.
- You should be more careful wearing it on your sleeve. But let me check…
….
- I lost hope.
- No you didn’t, sir.
- Huh? I’m telling you I lost hope. Isn’t it your job to help me find it?
- No sir. No one can help you find hope.
- Why?
- Because it’s impossible to lose it. You live – you hope.
