31–40 of 183 posts
We need more heroes of kindness.
Hell is full of good intentions, Heaven is full of good works.
"Friends" always invite us to their house. They have two large poorly behaved dogs, with no boundaries, and terrible hygiene. There is no way to explain, they love their dogs! So we always politely decline.
The author of this should extend his LibGen browser to consult Anna’s Archive and z-lib:
One day a guy shows up at a desk. I dropped by and invited him to lunch, but thinking he’d say no. There was a considerable difference in our ages. But I thought I’d be polite and social.
He thought for a few seconds and said … sure.
He had the best stories. I have good stories. He had better. He’d been a dresser for Nureyev and traveled the world. He’d taught celestial navigation at RIT. He’d raced the Bermuda race and had a lifetime winning record against Buckley.
And he was dead three months later from the cancer he had that day. I can’t remember any of the lunch gang but I can remember him.
By the time you get to my age, your list of potential Anna's will be in the high dozens. You simply cannot keep this up with all the Anna's. A lot of people genuinely don't want to hang out with you. Likely that number exceeds the "real" Anna's by an order of magnitude. If there's someone I particularly like, I'll keep inviting him. But if the person is otherwise normal (e.g. clearly has a social life), I invite 3-5…
"It was last weekend", he said.
"Oh, I didn't get an invite"
"That's because you never come"
She looked shocked, I think she genuinely didn't know what to say. After an awkward silence she said, "but I liked to be invited"
"I'll happily invite you next year if you promise to come"
She smiled politely and walked away.
It was memorable to me because it was such a foreign interaction on both sides from my perspective.
Not wanting to go out "to party" is not a moral failing, a problem, a fault, something which someone needs to overcome. If you like that person you can find something to do on a Friday night you both enjoy, if you don't then I doubt that you really care for that person at all.
My interpretation is that Alexei might well have understood that Anna felt lonely / homesick. The reaching out could well have been simply sympathetic and well thought through to help include someone. That's what people did for me when I was young and out of my depth. Those people probably helped steer me into a good place when it could've gone bad.
It's always nice to reflect on the kindness of others. :)