I was going through an emotionally wrenching time when it seemed nothing was working out to my advantage and the bad luck just didn’t seem to end. Even some relationships with family and friends were not doing well.

I felt isolated and unloved. My self esteem and self worth were temporarily trampled.

I told my friend Andrew that no one cared.

He agreed fully and wholeheartedly with me.

He told me he has known people don’t care since he was 15 years old.

He said he was in class when one of his teachers told a story. The teacher said that when people ask, “How are you?”, they don’t really want to know. It’s an empty question that no one truly wants answered. The teacher said people just don’t care.

Andrew said that he, as a 15-year-old, said to himself, “That’s right. The teacher is right. No one does care.”

Andrew’s father died around this time and he had to be around family and others who he says weren’t nice or kind to him. The teacher’s comment rang terribly true.

From that moment forward, Andrew began operating on this belief. No one cared then and now 35 years later, people still don’t care.

I froze. How could that be? I began to recall all the monents when people seemed to care. I see people donate their time and money to help strangers who are less fortunate. I see families helping members who need a place to stay. I saw a woman give away her free turkey to another woman in line at the grocery store and we all got a little weepy over the new recipient’s overwhelming joy.

During the more recent hard time, family and friends worried about my mental state, some listened as I sobbed, and others took the Tough Love path.

My best friend Randy told me, metaphorically, to pick myself up by my bootstraps ala John Wayne and stop my defeatist and victim attitude.

There are better things and times ahead, he told me.

Thus I might feel lonely or alone, but I know I’m not. Somewhere someone cares about each and every one of us, including Andrew. I know people care about him and he cares about people.

I must refuse to let my emotions get the best of me. I can not believe the world is cold and dark.

This was one of my horoscopes this month:

In this world there are very few people who truly care. Most care, only as much as they feel they have to. They may care because it is their job to care. They may care because they feel it is expected of them. They may care because they feel bad about not caring. How much they care, though – and for how long – is questionable. That’s all understandable. To care is to be sensitive. To be sensitive is to be vulnerable. Yet it is also to be brave… and ultimately, to be deeply rewarded. As, soon, you’ll see.