Member-only story
The Humanness
When we are young, it’s the illusion of perfection
that we fall in love with. As we age, it’s the humanness
that we fall in love with…
— Jeff Brown
*
We are living in a world in which nobody is free, in which hardly anybody is secure, in which it is almost impossible to be honest and to remain alive.
~George Orwell
*
In his eighties, he was my analyst. I had been in England seeing him for six months, and was still trying to be efficient.
On Christmas Eve I learned my dog, who was in Canada, had been killed.
I decided not to waste my evening session talking about my dog.
I arrived as organized as usual.
At the end, he sat quietly, then asked me what was wrong. Nothing, I said, as I put on my coat.
You have not been here, he said.
I told him my dog was dead.
He wept. Wept over my dog.
Asked me how I could waste Christmas Eve chattering when my soul animal had just died.
Suddenly his weeping made me feel what I was doing to my soul.
