The Man Made of Smoke

by Alex North

We can never know the importance of our actions, however small and innocent they might seem. An interaction that, for us, is gone in a heartbeat might be something that another person finds impossible to forget.

We are shaped by our pasts, not defined by them. It was important to remember that.

When you’re young, there’s so much time left ahead of you. You can still achieve something. But then suddenly you realize that time is mostly behind you now, and there’s only the fact that you didn’t.

How could you carry an experience like that without buckling under the weight of it?

People can hide things away from you in the spaces between seconds, never mind weeks and months.

“When you’re down about yourself, you think about things to make yourself feel even worse, don’t you? It’s weirdly comfortable to dwell. Maybe it means you’re right about something at least. Even if it’s just the fact that you’re a shit person.”

When something horrible happens, it’s natural to look for answers, and to try to make connections and figure out a way to make things right. Because we want everything to make sense. But sometimes … things are just fucking shit.”