Thought Picnic: Extraterrestrial and far from home

Far and away

By happenstance and circumstance E.T. found himself on earth, marooned and far away from home. In the process he came under the care of kids who shielded him and protected him from dangers he might face in a wild and hostile world.

Eventually, he became integral to the family and much as they all had fun together was amazing with things happening to the kids that changed their lives forever, there was one wish E.T. had, a wish to return home but there was no means to take him back.

Away from home

That reflects a human story in many ways, away from home and those who knew us from birth until the time we flew the nest to distant lands to build new lives and experiences that become a story of its own.

The absence becomes a gulf, the things that are shared are no more as intimate as they were when you were in close proximity. If you never had the closest relationships then, it is unlikely they will enter into the inner recesses of your emotional state of mind and turmoil to appreciate who and where you are at.

Home of ideals

Meanwhile, where we can, we put up masks, display idealism with the veneer of everything being fine just to shield ourselves from questions and shield them from worry.

Then assumptions are made, that unlike E.T. you have not called home, you have not bothered, you are indifferent, you are doing life and forgetting them – you are nonplussed without easy answers to the questions where if you did attempt a response it would be blurted out without care and consideration – but that cuts both ways

Relationships are symbiotic, if you haven’t called and you have been accused as such, why haven’t they called too and we could all reflect on the fact that iron sharpens iron, when one part is blunt, it takes the other to give it its potency again.

Ideals most bereft

If we are both lukewarm we seethe in conflicted animus, disappointed and disparaging of the other for presumed indifference and the lack of fondness that should usually grow keener by the distance of space and time – the backstory is deeper than a telephone conversation can allow, there are reasons that demand the understanding we are rarely able to give in the presence of the sentiments we want to express.

We hurt others to assuage our hurt, we accuse them not to be accused, we flail with histrionics and melodrama, yet, it requires one compassionate act on the part of one to ease the tension, break the ice and rekindle relationships again.

Why haven’t I called home? That is a long story.