Mind Games

We praise each other and then curse each other behind our backs. We can hardly wait for someone to stumble so we can run them down and trample over them without looking back. We write posts about one another, then block each other on Facebook, and when we meet in person, we greet each other like friendly acquaintances, as if nothing ever happened.

We get on each other’s nerves, yet smile to each other’s faces. We hate each other, yet say we adore one another. We envy each other and refuse to admit it. We want to strangle one another; we want our hatred to be contagious, so that others will hate just as fiercely as we hate each other. We compete in hatred.

Three people applaud us, and suddenly we think the whole country belongs to us. We keep running in circles, convinced that somehow we will escape this vicious cycle.

Despite everything, I wanted to become part of this “Georgia” and to say — to shout — that people were born in Georgia and never regretted it.