When everything you see reminds you of that past life you miss, perhaps that past life meant more to you than you could ever think.

Life takes many paths. Some are fair, and some are not. Sometimes the path cuts itself off without reason, and forces you to turn back. Sometimes you have to turn back for reasons you can’t accept – somebody cut a tree down and threw it over the road, with no way over or around it. Sometimes that turn back will hurt. Most of the time, turning back involves going on an even longer path, back to where you started a long time ago – with nothing else but festering wounds, scars and hopefully a little more wisdom.

Truly, life brings with it many surprises. Most are bad. Even if they’re not, just prepare for it. You don’t know when the worst things could happen to you. If you’re prepared, then perhaps the tears will have some meaning. If you’re not, learn.

Then, the worst things happen to you, one by one, until you are run ragged and wish for nothing more than the boring rigours of normalcy. Trust me, they do. What is left when hope is taken away? Pain and hurt, along with emptiness. It’s like a glass bottle, filled to the brim over years of love, attention and effort, simply poured away within moments.

The bottle is left. If it isn’t already broken. You wouldn’t even accept the fact that the bottle is broken.

For a long time, you won’t be able to even think about picking the pieces up again. “My glass bottle is broken,” you will say.

“Why should I fix it? Someone could just take it and smash it again. Anyway, I don’t even think that I can even fix it. Look! The pieces are everywhere. This will take ages! What would I fix it with? Will it even be able to hold anything after that?”

The bottle remains broken.

If you’re lucky, no one would have touched the pieces. If you’re unlucky, perhaps people would have walked all over them and crushed them further. Either way, you won’t have an easy time putting the bottle back together. What then? What now?

You will realize that the bottle you just fixed never had any other function, except to be filled and emptied again. Filled and emptied again. Broken. Filled and emptied again. Broken.

What is left?