Attaching and Detaching

In a world like this where people tend to do whatever they want, being able to move on like the last few years, months, or weeks you spent with someone didn't happen is a superpower that shouldn't be overlooked.

During my time in camp, two of my friends had worked in the utility department. They were in charge of turning on and off the lights in camp and just making sure we had a power supply at the right time. I had later joined them there, but not as staff, just as someone who goes there to hang out with my friends who worked there.

And as time went on, I became well known there; we all would sit with their boss, who also happened to be a very young guy and was probably just three or four years older than I was. We would all sit, talk, eat, and laugh together.

Within those three weeks, we no longer saw him as a boss but as a friend instead because he never once acted like a boss. He was always friendly, talking to us about everything from camp activities to women to sports and everything a group of young men would normally talk about.

Fast forward to the last day of camp, and naturally, I was thinking about how hard it would feel to say our goodbyes, only for me to wake up that morning, walk over to the utility department, and find this young man with his bags packed and ready to leave.

I actually had helped him place his bags into the vehicle and watched him drive away after briefly saying goodbye to us. To him, it felt like nothing, even though he knew that the possibility of seeing us again was probably slim.

The crazy thing is that in a couple of weeks, he would be doing it again, meeting new sets of people in camp, spending the next three weeks bonding with them, before leaving again. And I think that's what has made me so immune or strong at this, having to do it over and over again during the years.

And I don't know if he knows it yet, but he has slowly built himself in a way where he no longer gets attached to things easily, and depending on the situation he's in, that could end up becoming a really good asset for him in the future.