A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

'" I am of those who like to stay late at the café," the older waiter said.  "With all those who do not want to go to bed.  With all those who need light for the night"'.

"After all, he said to himself, it's probably only insomnia.   Many must have it."

     

                                    -- Ernest Hemingway,  A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.

 
      I chose two quotes for this blog post particularly because I feel both compliment one another in my analysis of Hemingway's piece of writing.  
      As I sat and read and reread this passage, I couldn't help but feel all the truth behind his words.  "With all those who do not want to go to bed," or "It's probably insomnia.  Many must have it".  There's a bit of sadness followed behind the meaning of this.  People with families, loved ones and friends taken into account don't have any particular reason of going out, especially to a café bar by themselves in the dead end of the night unless something was troubling them.  The young waiter was so anxious to get home, why?  Because his wife was waiting for him in bed.  But the older waiter was in no rush at all because where was he going to be hurried off to except into another room alone?  
     Those who feel the need to take their own lives I must try and imagine, (but whom I cannot speak for themselves) must feel so lonely, so abandoned that they believe no one is there to just, be there for them and with them during their times of loneliness.  Sleeping temporarily takes the pain away, as does drinking.  No matter the money, no matter the amount of wealth under one's hands, no amount could ever replace the genuine feeling of the love of a family and friends.  That's something irreplaceable and priceless.  And to drink away the feelings, notions and memories of something precious you once held in the palms of your hands must feel like a thousand stabs to the heart because it is no longer yours.  So you stay up late, drink away the darkness, stay in a place that lit in hopes that maybe a little light will shine into your life as well.  And as the morning sun rises, your guard is able to be let down, knowing the light is surrounding you and it is okay to rest.