I heard a story of my father, in his later years. I don't know any fact of the man, so I assume the story to be true.
Several years before my birth Derrick apparently Sank into a deep, inner loneliness. He would spend the evening before the festival alone. There were no relatives around him and no friends to visit. Alone in his residence he would sit and light fire crackers. He would listen to them from sunset until the early dawn.
Sitting over the Pacific, I felt a taste of Derrick's loneliness. This single reveled flash of human nature was much the same as whatever humanity remained in me.
Derrick lost all happiness through grinding down other people, whereas I lost all happiness by being ground down.
Suffering from an aspect of the same disease, I could finally feel a measure of pitty for him....
Later I thought, perhaps I too should light firecrackers.
Submission date: 16sep11
