Loneliness...

Since the day I came here, I kept thinking of Switzerland as the fairy tale country... But today I realised that everyones lives aren't always fairy tales here either.

Just this morning, while waiting for a bus I met this old gent (must have been around 80 years old), I smiled, and he started to talk to me, saying Bonjour and Ca Va, I said Oui Ca Va and he asked me about where I was going, I told him where, and then he asked me if I would like to have a coffee in a near by cafe with him, which took me by surprise, and I said 'no thank you' partly worried about missing my bus. Imagine how lonely he must have been to invite a perfect stranger, less than half his age, who could barely speak his language (I asked if he spoke English and he said no, so i continued the conversation in broken French) for a coffee. Later I wondered what if I just had the coffee with him and got a few mins late, I;m sure that would have brightened his day...but then I didn;t, and he thanked me for the chat and went on his way.

I guess one difference in our cultures is that the old are usually well respected and cared for by their children, but here most are living alone with their dogs to keep them company. As they say 'No man was built as an island to wonder through life alone'. It must be difficult to live alone specially after retirement, when you don;t meet many people, just living from one day to the next, knowing that the best days of your life are gone. I guess loneliness might be one of the sadest feelings, even poverty might sometimes be better, than feeling alone and unloved.

Later I was wondering what his story was, maybe I would have found out, had i joined the coffee...Maybe next time...