- The distanced melancholy of not knowing your mother tongue, the native language of your mother, your father, and most of your family
- The vicarious melancholy of seeing someone live in a region spoken and written primarily alien
- The selfish melancholy of “losing” an hour, because you don’t have 100% confidence this person will find help otherwise, and missing your scheduled exercise class
- The fearful melancholy of becoming more dependent on others as you age
- The vain melancholy of wanting to publicize your act, and thinking a truly good person would not
- The yearning melancholy of wanting to know more of the colliding half-stranger, waving bye as you go your unknown ways