If you keep watering a cactus it will die, overwhelmed by all the water it’s offered to drink. Because it has learnt to keep its needs minimalistic, for the purposes of surviving. But you would never call the plant selfish or ungrateful, you would simply blame the one who kept watering it, using such words as “it’s not a kind of flower that needs water.” It’s the same with humans, humans who grew up in emotionally starved surroundings. Humans who have been taught that feeling is wrong, forbidden even. And when the human leaves, with no turning back, you will feel sorry. You will miss the human, but the human is no longer little, it doesn’t need you. And the human doesn’t really understand why you are hurting. For the human, love is a definition, nothing else. The human doesn’t need you to care, it doesn’t feel in need to go home. For the human, it’s normal to be alone. It’s a sign of independence, you taught it that. But still, you’ll blame the human, saying that it’s ungrateful and selfish. And maybe the human is, in fact, selfish. Selfish for not giving a second chance. But then again, the human doesn’t need attention or praise. The human learnt how to bottle up feelings, how to burn them down, with no need for a crowd. It’s been raised on such phrases as “anger, danger” and “crying won’t help you.” So the human stopped feeling, it kept becoming mechanic, until it reached the stage of leaving you behind. And you can’t blame the human. Because the human doesn’t have any desire for emotions, now that it has grown up without them. Just like the cactus has no wish to drink water, after surviving without it for such a time.