I’m touched by what you tell me, W. You’re 24, your whole life is still before you, you have a good formation in Ignatian spirituality, and a good job as a nurse. Yet you are despondent. You say you are lost and lacking in all motivation. The causes may be any, and I know that their effect on a young person can be devastating. I know life is hard, and I have felt it in my own life, brutally at times. But I have passed through that all, and that’s why, without in any way setting myself up as a model or preaching any sermon, I want to encourage you with my own experience and my own conviction, whatever their worth. I will not give escapist answers or abstract doctrines that help no one. I only witness to my faith in life, after having lived it out for more than 80 years, and having passed through trials and sufferings as strong as anyone may have faced. I have been through harsh times, very harsh times, but life goes on and I’ve had always got ahead, I hold on to the reality of the present, I foster joy, I share it, and I go on with cheer and joy because I know that life is good, that is straightens itself as it goes along, that it pays to live, that all is well at the end. I don’t know whether all this I’m telling you is of any use to you, but that is what I live and that is all I can tell you. It’s like climbing a mountain, where you are starting at the bottom while I’m reaching the summit, and I signal to you from the top to tell you that climbing is possible and there is a most beautiful view from the summit. After all, being an old man con be of some help, and if it helps you in your situation, it will be worth while being old. Cheer up. Kisses, Carlos.