A Little Solace

There was a story on CNN the other day about how January 22nd is considered by some psychiatric organization to be the more depressing day of the year. A combination of the weather, the holidays being over, and a sort of hangover from all the money pissed away to spread holiday cheer is supposedly responsible. There's an agreeable logic to it. I lack a healthy emotional disposition, so I can't complain that the 22nd of January is any worse than the 5th of May or 7th of August. How tiresome and boring depression is, my friends.

We've all been through bad break-ups and unrequited love. There's no pain like it, and I think that only music can really capture and relate the horror of it adequately. Recently a friend of mine was complaining to me about a relationship gone sour. She went on and on about it, and I tried to comfort her. But every response seemed trite, every word fell with a thud and did little to take some of her pain away, or at least let her know that she isn't alone. I think we should make up a word that combines many other words and make the language a true comfort other than a banal comeback. Something that really says, "I understand, I cannot help you or alleviate your pain, but I'm here for you." In addition, the word will bring to mind a series of images; a beam of light through a dark and empty room, a loved one laughing, and perhaps a crowd of people. Music will come to mind when the word is uttered, like Tchaikovsky's violin concerto or aria #5 from Bachianas Brasileiras by Villa Lobos. But music is so personal a thing that the word would have to evoke a harmony that spoke to the suffering soul. And there would be poetry, too. Perhaps the words of Walter Benton, Longfellow, or whomever would be included in the emotional currency traded with this word. A beautifully expressed phrase of exquisite empathy. And finally, the word would provide a modicum of comfort, as one friend takes the hand of another and briefly guides him or her through a hideous bout of melancholy, away from the anguish of that broken heart.

But no such word exists. Because when you are suffering through the agony that I'm talking about, you feel like you're the first person ever to go through it. The loneliness is unspeakably gloomy. One is truly beyond consolation. So in my attempt to help my dear friend I fumbled about sadly. I'm a fairly eloquent person, even when talking and not writing. But I guess the reason that there is no such word is due to the truth of the pain. That the person going through it really is alone, and there's not a damned thing anyone can do about it. At least beyond the meager comforts of words, words, words. By knowing that we can perhaps provide the best advice to a dejected friend; look to art, particularly music, to find a little solace.