what not to do if depressed...

I have stated in a previous post, that I still believe in fairytales.  Well, of late, I've been thinking about that a wee bit.  

I suppose that a fairytale, when viewed in the cold harsh light of day, is probably nothing but the unhinged ramblings of someone whose real life is in all likelihood marred by a chronic drug addiction, bizarre sexual fetishes or crippling agoraphobia.   Or not.

Moving right along.

Tonight, I watched the Sean Penn film Into the Wild.  Absolutely. Harrowing.

I won't spoil the whole plot, but it is the story of a college graduate who, upon successfully graduating university, donates the remainder of his college fund ($24,000) to Oxfam International and sets out across the United States in an effort to escape the dysfunctional family unit and *find himself*.  

Along the way, he meets an old man whose wife and son had been killed by a drunk driver some 50 years prior and who had lived his life in solitude ever since.    The boy, who has assumed the name Alexander Supertramp, and the old man spend some weeks together and become close, before the boy continues on for his final destination, Alaska.

In the scene where Alexander and the man part, the old man explains to Alex that his father and mother were only children, as was he.  He explains that when he is gone, that it will be the end of the family line.  He earnestly asks Alex, with tears rolling down his cheeks, if he could adopt him and be like his grandfather.  Alex responds "can we talk about it when I get back".   End scene.    I find myself in tears thinking about this now, even hours later.

There is nothing that pains me more than if I see an elderly person, who has lived a life as full and storied as anyone, that through the turn of fate has been left without a soul in the world to connect to.   

That being the case, and if fate and coincidence can serve up such a bastard deck of cards to leave someone alone and lonely, then surely I have to believe that the same fickle hand of fate may just come through with a happy ending.