You can be alone, without being lonely

While driving back from the gym I passed by Sakshi's school and a story flashed in my mind .....

25 years have passed by, a lot of life has happened , Sakshi has grown into worldly wise, mature and smart leader working for a multi-national corporation , the 4 years she spent at Shepherd Primary School in UK (3rd to 6th grade) are all but forgotten in the labyrinth of memories . Cheerful & happy memories have long since filled up her mind overwriting the previous not-so-happy school memories. As destiny would have it her next assignment brings her to London and a few weeks later we join her. Filled with an immeasurable sense of nostalgia, I suggest we all visit her old school, reluctantly she agrees, fearing that re-visiting the school might trigger despondent memories of her school days. 

Being a Sunday the school is deserted and as we walk around ,Sakshi begins to narrate some of her harrowing experiences in school, of rude class mates, constantly being bullied and ridiculed, always feeling being left out, trying very hard to win over others, always trying to earn respect and appreciation of others. But after a few minutes, she abruptly stops, turns around to me and with tears streaming down her eyes says “ Dad, it just occurred to me, that had it not been for my time in this school, I would have never learned how to deal with difficult situations, I would not have become as resilient as I have become. I would have not learned to play the Violin, or to speak French or to paint with the kind of brush strokes as I do or to get along with any kind of person or to persevere hard to earn respect or never to take anyone for granted or to never let anyone else feel the way I was made to feel in that class ,and most importantly I learned that “you can be alone, without being lonely” -others can make you alone, but never let them make you feel lonely