There was a Thai woman named Chīwit. She lived in a big house with her dog, and everyday she would see ghosts that no one else could see. Mostly, they were friendly, and she felt drawn to the ghosts to learn about their daily lives and their world.
Others in her town told her to stay away, that the ghosts were scary and dangerous. But that wasn’t her experience. They were like normal people living their lives with hopes, dreams, concerns, and yes flaws.
One day she decides to move to New York, and as she adjusts, she gets lonely and starts missing the ghosts. She tries calling her closest ghost friend so much that the ghost just ends up coming to New York to see her.
“I don’t understand this city and this culture,” she explained. “But most of all, I don’t understand why I don’t see any ghosts here. People don’t seem to believe in them.”
“The ghosts are everywhere,” the ghost responded. “But most choose not to see us.”
“Why don’t people see ghosts? Why are they so scared of you?”
“People see in us the others lives that could have been. They think this world is what is best for them, and they can only see our lives as scary and as a threat. That’s why they think they haunt us. Really their own minds haunt them with what could have been.”
That was when she realized that her ghosts were really people too. They were living the lives she and the communities had rejected when they made decisions each day about how to live life. For each other decision they could have chosen makes a ripple, and out of that, these ghosts appear embodying what could have been.
With that, she started seeing them everywhere. In every community, town, and city, ghosts would bursts forth. Some promising, and some desperate, some scary. She noticed people only paid attention when the ghosts made a better choice and thus lived better lives than they are, these ghosts being a sign of regret for what they did. As she started paying attention to all the ghosts, though, she would see the ones that were less fortunate, that looked to her with longing for the choices she made. Her version of herself was in the middle, with better and worse versions of herself, which gave her comfort that she was doing all right.
And she realized that every single day, she would have to understand and make peace with these ghosts. As all they were doing was helping her figure out how to live her own life.