Both Sides Now

ZURICH, Switzerland ----- Visiting my cousin and her family is a rare privilege. Switzerland's image from outside of purity, punctuality, and precision is entirely different in reality when you are inside its borders. The reality is more complex than the image. It’s not a country where you expect instant bonding and bear hugs.

The Swiss way of life partly mirrored mine. I overly focused on livelihood and not on the living. Swiss value career, considering it almost as their God. Many attribute children as expense and are unwilling to trade-off freedom over parenthood. Psychologists and psychiatrists abound.

Clad in Swiss national costumes

As I went on touring sites, I saw many Europeans clad in dignified corporate outfits but with empty souls. There were plenty of dead people pretending to get a life through their leisure and hobbies. It was a scary sight.

I used to dilly-dally about marriage. But the trip made me realize I need a life-partner. Approaching golden years without a companion whom I can have an intelligent discussion might be my purgatory. Friends come and go. Families move and relocate. Careers end. I fret the day living alone when I’m old and gray.

For years I saw only clouds of doubts and fears. But now, I look at love from both sides: from win and lose, from give and take, and from up and down. Peculiarly late, yet this realization is victory in itself!

N.B. Exported from: blog.friendster.com