When a friend attempted suicide

Carolyn Greig Holmgren

I Remember, as a child, driving with my mother and seeing some water on the highway up ahead. I warned her, thinking she would want to slow down. She told me there wasn't any water there; it was something called a mirage. She went on to explain that is when something appears to be in front of you but isn't. I didn't believe her, since the "water" looked real, but when we got to that place in the highway where I thought there was water, I found there wasn't any. In fact, there wasn't anything on the road at all!

A mirage is an optical illusion involving the bending of rays of light by unevenly heated air. But when we see a mirage on the road, we don't see rays of light being manipulated by varying temperatures. Our limited view of the situation perceives water on the road.

What about the limited views we have of ourselves, other people, the world? Are these more like a mirage than we are willing to admit?

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Water tanks or wellsprings