We believe ourselves smart; masters of our own destiny. It takes little moments to realize the hubris in all this. The truth is that life just isn’t fair.

Somewhere, in the bleak greyness of an airport, a mother and her child wait for a plane. They seem happy enough, chatting, joking. But all she has brought is a big envelope with too much paperwork. It’s her son who’s got a tiny backpack and a gigantic pouch around his neck. One of the gates calls a flight for pre-boarding. A flight somewhere else, a quarter-way around the globe. “That’s us,” she says. They pick up the envelope and the tiny backpack and march across the worn out carpet towards the gate. Her son proudly presents his boarding pass. She hands over whatever other papers will secure his safe passage. The agent, who has seen this so many times, has only a few words, a gaze, and a handshake, not least to comfort the chill she is feeling herself. Then down the passage and away. A quarter-way around the globe.

Lost in the grey bleakness stands a mother with nothing left but an envelope with too much paperwork.