If You Are Lonely and You Know It (Currency)

by Yiyun Li

“Half the world believes the wrong things. The other half doesn’t believe the right things.”

You hold on to some things for sentimental reasons, and other things for practical reasons. The same with people—most of them.

only on those nights did he feel that perhaps talking to himself and the trees and the flowers and animals was not enough.

The world is full of random dangers that threaten to turn lives into statistics. The rational make forecasts and predict with data sets. Parents do not give birth to and raise data sets.

“Parenthood is not some special currency,” Iris said. “Being a parent is not a status thing.”