In particular, the loss of a pet, as trivial as that may seem to many people, can be devastating. We might also look to contemporary Western society as a depressive culture. When children say their best friends are TV personalities and shopping malls stand in for community, it is no wonder we feel cut loose from the deepest meaning of life and life without hope and joy. Seems like one big mess of malaise, one big prozac nation. The experience of depression falls along a continuum and varies widely.
Some people stumble through life but with no real joy.
Others are incapacitated. A person suffering from depression seems unrelated to immediate eternal events. It must have been 1979, the year I turned 12, when I had thin thighs, big eyes, peachy breasts, sunburn and an edge of adolescent prettiness that would have made you think nothing could be wrong. I cannot remember the name of the book or the characters, but the quote is indelible, does not come out in the wash, has been on my mind every since. No matter how many chemicals I have ever used to bleach or sandblast my brain, I know by now, only too well, that you can never get away from yourself because you never go away.