How to Spot the Loveliest People in the World
The loveliest people in the world are not
the famous, respected, worthy, or powerful ones.
They are the individuals you have not really heard of,
who long ago shed their pride.
They are the ones who can tell you frankly how lonely
and sad they are,
and who can face their self-hatred and accept their regrets.
A Unique Perspective on Unhappiness
They are not just unhappy—there are plenty of boring
and frightening ways to be that.
Instead, they have come to an optimal perspective
on their unhappiness.
You could tell them about the strangest, oddest,
and most lamentable things about you,
knowing they will understand it all at once from the inside.
There are no follies around s*x, status, love,
or money that they are not fully acquainted with.
They want to connect with the deep pain inside you
because they are so familiar with those exact
feelings inside themselves.
Letting Go of “Normal”
These individuals are not remotely attached to seeming sane,
and they long ago ceased attempting to appear normal.
They know that life is mostly pain, mystery, and error,
and they will never try to persuade you otherwise.
Most importantly, they will never be so mean
as to forcefully try to cheer you up.
Deep Trust and Dark Humor
They can be trusted completely
because they have had the courage to fathom their
own propensities for cowardice and corruption.
They do not care about your reputation
because they know what people in general are really like.
As a result, they combine a thorough misanthropy
for the group with a deep love and tenderness for the individual.
Having been through their own obsessions with
love, public esteem, career triumph, and forced positivity,
they have come out the other side.
They can let their humor get very dark
because the gap between their hopes
and their actual experience is so wide.
Because they have explored the weirdest parts of themselves,
they will easily understand the oddest parts about you.
The Best Companions in the Dark
They do not expect life as a whole to go right.
Against a backdrop of despair,
they have the ability to laugh with exceptional richness and glee.
These are the sort of people you want next to you in a prison cell,
on the way to the scaffold, in the trenches, or in a hospital bed.
These are the kinds of people we need so many more of in our lives,
and the kind we should try so hard to be for others.
