Josh, Chris and I were talking last night about events that take the wind out of your sails. That expression has always seemed so perfect, so evocative to me.
Most people have one experience at least in their lives that damages their inborn optimism.
Let me be clear without being precious. I think that going through shitty stuff is important. Even if at the time you are not so sure why you are going through the shit at hand, there is often an important lesson that the core of it that makes you a richer, more compassionate person.
But there are experiences that are like a loss of innocence, but not as specific, from which people emerge flattened and sober and cynical.
Do you know what I am talking about? Sometimes it is bad luck or circumstance, and sometimes it is inflicted by another person.
But if anyone ever does that to someone that I love, I will kick them in the balls.
*of course, as Liz wrote, it is often self-inflicted.
