Unfortunately real stories of loss

Had a long conversation with an interesting traveller yesterday..

He spoke about going to Myanmar before it was really open to tourists , about his travels

on the bike across south America...then after he had quite a few drinks he opened up about his childhood.

His mom was killed by terrorists in Europe, later his elder brother was shot at and luckily survived.
His childhood was about being careful about possible bombs under the car and the loss of his mothers love.

After talking to him , a few other memories..random conversations with others returned:

My uncle, a Kashmiri pandit telling me how they had to escape and in passing over dinner mentioning that x aunt is no longer there..shes been shot.

Or the other side , our driver in Kashmir..a wonderful human telling us how one day his brother was picked up by the armed forces..never to return.

And this guy- a waiter I met in Turkey in a cafe. He was a qualified engineer but he was from Afghanistan and had to escape & find whichever job he could. And the weirdest part he laughed about his loss..he said he was lucky because in his family only his cousin had lost his legs in the bombings. That 'loss is Ok'

Somewhere between all this I realized- these are adult men..keeping so much within themselves and it takes quite a few drinks or conversations over a few hours for them to share their loss. They bury it so deep within.

And despite their different geographies, colour, socio-economic status they had lost so much.

Because we live in a world which is ok with someone else's loss, as long as we gain.