Such deep, meaningful words from a man who has been around the block.

I don’t know the meaning of life and I would be fool to think, even if I thought I knew, that I have more wisdom than you.

Life is meaningless, yes, I will give you that, but if it was completely meaningless why do we stay? With the dire world that we live in, why do we all choose to continue to suffer? I believe it is for each other. It is for conversations, just like this one we are having.

What do you and I share in common? Probably very little. I am the child of two immigrant parents, who came here in 1980 with very little money and the sole hope of creating a better life for the future family.

It put a lot of pressure on me to be successful, so much pressure that I forgot that life is meant to be enjoyable; the idea of happiness seemed ridiculous and for other people.

With every success I achieved, for the longest time, I was not happy, but I am working on it.

I check CNN every morning when I get into work and I cry for the world. I cry for children being ripped away from their parents. I cry that the world has a leader who thinks some places are ‘shithole countries’ and less than. I cry that we still have racism and are constantly ‘othering’ those who look different than us.

The world is a bleak place, but one thing, one thing today that made me smile was your message. The connection we have may be fleeting and may be something that neither you or I remember next year, but it is meaningful today.

I can only focus on today and finding meaningful connections in my today. Today you made me smile. Yes, you might see it as a bandage in my life, but for me, today, it is my safety boat.

Simple actions have huge ripple effects, we have to remind ourselves of our value each and every day.

And for days that are hard, we can always order a pizza and watch some television, bracing ourselves for the unknowings of tomorrow.