Close Contact

The distance caused by illness can be overcome, while the barriers created by material circumstances seem permanent. The distance between lovers can shrink to zero, or a mountain that will not move can stand between them. Family bonds endure through blood, yet barriers caused by material circumstances are hard to overcome. A wife’s decision to give up leaves a psychological gulf between husband and wife, but the husband cannot ease the pain born of that distance, nor can he avoid all the close contacts he cannot avoid.