And on that evening when we grow older still we'll speak about these two young men as though they were two strangers we met on the train and whom we admire and want to help along. And we'll want to call it envy, because to call it regret would break our hearts.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the complexities of admiration and envy towards others as we age, highlighting our desire to help and connect, while concealing our feelings of regret.
In this quote, Andr Aciman captures the bittersweet emotions that come with growing older and reflecting on the lives of others. It emphasizes how we often disguise our deeper feelings of regret with admiration, especially when we look back on lost opportunities or unfulfilled dreams. The idea of viewing these young men as 'strangers' suggests a distance created by time and circumstance, yet there remains a longing to support and connect with them, revealing the dual nature of our emotions—both envy for their potential and a hidden sense of loss for what we ourselves may not have achieved.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a reunion to reflect on how we've changed and what we admire in others.
As we walked, I began to wonder what the opposite of molting was and why, unlike the body, which sheds everything, the soul cannot let go but compiles and accumulates, growing annual rings around the things it wants and dreams and remembers
Perhaps we were friends first and lovers second. But then perhaps this is what lovers are.
When I tell her what I’m thinking and she tells me what she’s thinking, our each ideas jumping into the other’s head, like coulouring blue crayon on top of yellow that makes green.
If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.
Krystal flung herself violently off the chair, away from her mother. She was surprised to feel warm liquid flowing down her cheeks, and thought confusedly of blood, but it was tears, only tears, clear and shining on her fingertips when she wiped them away.
A man looks pretty small at a wedding, George. All those good women standing shoulder to shoulder, making sure that the knot's tied in a mighty public way.
Basic human contact - the meeting of eyes, the exchanging of words - is to the psyche what oxygen is to the brain. If you're feeling abandoned by the world, interact with anyone you can.
The chief cause of unhappiness in married life is that people think that marriage is sex attraction, which takes the form of promises and hopes and happiness - a view supported by public opinion and by literature. But marriage cannot cause happiness. Instead, it is always torture, which man has to pay for satisfying his sex urge.
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