Here's a link to the Instagram post that caught my eye when it was posted just Wednesday. The photo is an older gentleman laying on his side, leaning on one arm - in what appears to be a park. He's somewhere in Paris, even though the Instagram account is HumansFromNY. Sometimes the posts are from other places. It's a fascinating account. The gentleman pictured looks like Walter Matthau.

The post copy says this:

“One day she told me she was getting a lawyer. I tried to play catch-up, but it was too late. Apparently I wasn’t enough of a leader in the relationship. We’d fallen into too much of a routine. Or at least that’s what I was told. I’ve been alone for thirteen years now. The hardest part for me was losing the sense of family. My youngest daughter barely speaks to me anymore. I’ve seen her maybe fifteen times since the divorce. I have a five-month-old granddaughter that I haven’t even met. I don’t understand it. I wasn’t that bad. I didn’t openly argue with their mother. I never had an affair. I was present. I was affectionate. Maybe I was a little strict, but she was a tough teenager. We were afraid for her. She was only fifteen and going to nightclubs. There was a lot of screaming back then: ‘you’re an asshole,’ ‘you’re not my father,’ things like that. And maybe her mind is still locked in that time. Now we speak maybe once a year. Whenever I ask her about it, she feels attacked. It’s awkward. There’s no familiarity anymore. And it’s not getting any better. Time is working against us. Because I feel like I’m losing the feeling of being a dad. Of loving. Of caring. Obviously that’s not true, or I wouldn’t be talking about it. But everything fades eventually. At least when someone dies, you can mourn. It’s so much harder when someone just disappears.” (Paris, France)

A recent headline captured my attention.

Selena Gomez Says Her Girl Squad Kept Her From Hitting Rock Bottom

Not because I'm a Selena Gomez fan or follower, but because I have had people in my life who struggled with making poor decisions. I'm in no position to dispute or comment on Selena's life or struggles. I've read enough to know that like many young performers she's had her share of life struggles. Beyond that, nothing is clear to me.

She's human. She struggles sometimes. She's from here in the DFW area where life was hard. Poverty and the assorted ailments that accompany it were part of her life.

She hit big by getting on the Hannah Montana show and by 16 she had a recording contract. I respect what I know of her rags to riches story. But once again I stress - she's human. She struggles sometimes.

I hope she's doing well. And perhaps her girl squad indeed did keep her from hitting rock bottom. Let's assume hitting rock bottom wouldn't have been a good thing for her - the catalyst to propel her forward. We hope people who hit rock bottom use it for their benefit, but some (perhaps most) don't. Selena may be among them. I don't know.

Hitting rock bottom has been on my mind for the past 6 months or so. Sparked by somebody I care deeply about. Somebody behaving dangerously. A life filled with self-destruction. A life that went from serving and helping others to a life immersed in selfishness and hurt. A wasted life. We've all seen it happen. Many of us have seen it happen to somebody we know - or used to know - well. We lament that we're unable to influence them to find their way back to a more positive way of life. A life that's profitable for them and others.

I'm not mathematically or scientifically inclined, but if I were - and if I were young - I'd head straight into neuroscience and psychology. I was looking around at the books that surround me. Mostly, my books fall into a handful of categories:

a. Religious (Bible commentaries, Bible dictionaries, biographies, debates and more)

b.