A city has always been, to me, a perfect place to be sad. You can be by yourself without being alone, you can find hope in the happiness of complete strangers, and you can be liberated by perfect anonymity.
Today, after the services held for Michaela in the PCUV chapel, I bought a nice chocolate bar and headed to my newest favorite plaza. I'm not sure its name, but it adjoins the Congressional building/grounds right in the middle of Valparaiso, about 6 blocks from my university. Today, (in addition to the usual cast of chess-playing old men, giggling schoolchildren on lunch, business people on cell phones, and families playing tag in the grass) there was a band playing in the southwest corner and a flea market taking place along the street. As I wandered along the rows of used books, old cell phones, and random junk, I let the lazy chaos of downtown wash over my troubled mind. In a place with such life and energy, it is easier (and more calming) to be swept away by sights and sounds and sun-drenched sidewalks than to stubbornly hold onto the pain caused by this very same beautiful world.
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