Faija Tasfia
As I was watching the episode The Office where their annoying boss Michael leaves, I realized that goodbyes are always hard. The Office is an American mockumentary sitcom. It is about a fictional office and the lives of the employees in and out of the office. Michael Scott is the annoying boss who gets on everyone’s nerves. But when the time came for his farewell, everyone was sad. Employees who loved him were sad. Employees who were annoyed by him were sad.
Recently, goodbyes have become a natural phenomenon for me. But I still have not become used to it. Every time, it is hard. I still remember when my best friend left for Dhaka. She called before leaving and we talked for a while. I remember how sad I was that day. It’s not that we don’t talk. We talk almost everyday. We know what is going on in each other’s lives. But that moment, when she said goodbye, was hard. I guess goodbyes are just hard.
We always talk and write about technology and virtual communication. We talk about how it is making our lives easier and the world smaller. But everything has both positive and negative sides. Technology, too, has its fair share of positive and negative sides. But for the past couple of years, its negative side has been highlighted more and more. We feel that it is taking our time and our sense of empathy — which, by the way, is all true. But when the time for goodbye comes, we are comforted by this very thought of technology. The thought of seeing each other, listening to each other every day despite being far away. I digress, but had to include this point.
In this world of constantly emerging ideas, everything becomes overrated. Many a time, we forget the true essence of things. I think a proper goodbye is very important, be it over the phone or personally. We often want to skip the harder things in life. Even I would love to skip goodbyes. But we can’t. Even when we know it’s hard, we just can’t. Because deep down, in our heart, we want to say goodbye. We just want to say goodbye to our loved ones whom we may not see for a while. It feels good. It gives us a sense of satisfaction that we said goodbye. A closure for our own mental peace. It’s just that sometimes in life, the hardest things provide us with the greatest happiness and contentment.
Faija considers herself to be a sleeping freak who likes to write when she’s awake.