Knots
I.
Today, I encountered the happiest parent in the world and the unhappiest.
Today, my aunt and uncle found out that their son is in a war zone. They don’t know whether he’ll come home, or in what condition. Their pain is devastating to me. And even more unbearable is the thought that he may have signed a contract to go to war under pressure, without ever truly choosing it. What must he have gone through to end up there?
He was doing his compulsory military service, probably counting down the days until he could return to normal life, imagining all the things he’d finally be able to do. For years, he’d tried to avoid even serving in the military. And now he’s in a war.
The anger and grief I feel are overwhelming.
II.
I was in the middle of telling a friend about all this when he interrupted me for a moment. He was getting an important phone call.
From his son.
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He had passed the oral examination for a competitive selection process to join the diplomatic service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
My friend’s happiness was immense. Unlike my aunt and uncle, he could finally say with relief, “We can stop worrying. My son is going to be all right.” He could look forward to his son’s future with joy.
I found myself sharing his happiness. There was something contagious about his joy, something that, for a moment, managed to overpower even the grief I was carrying inside me.
For a second, I even forgot about my cousin.
III.
And then I thought about how absurd life is.
About all those lives running parallel to one another, like lines in an immense web, each marked by its own knots. From a distance, the knots seem like tiny points. But for those living through them, a single knot can fill their entire world.
Today, for a moment, I saw two of them.
And I wonder how many more are forming right now.
