09 December, 2003 - 10:40 p.m.

I've always told my friends that when they're upset, they need to talk it through with somebody that they trust.

Call a friend. Ask the audience. Flip a coin and go for the fifty-fifty.

But it's only a recommended practice if you still bank on the hope that everybody has somebody that they can trust with their innermost thoughts and fears.

Once again, I find myself wondering if it's pure luck that there are still people out there that place their faith in another like that. After all, as we get older .. don't we become more cynical? Aren't we more likely to scoff at the notion that there is good?

I used to tell my friends that it was okay to cry. But now - I'm not so sure. That empty, hollow feeling when you're through releasing those emotions? That's just as hard to bear as the turmoil that got you to that point in the first place.