Aware Of History
It was during Miss Appling’s World of History class in seventh grade when it clicked for me: history in one part of the world did not pause and wait for history in another part of the world to happen before it started back up. While families were moving westward in the U.S., things were still going on in China (and even Australia!). I don’t know what it was exactly that triggered this awareness in me, but I remember being surprised by it. I know it sounds dumb, but this newfound grand view changed my perceptions permanently.
Soon I realized that while I was living my life, other people were living their lives, too. Not just my friends and the people I knew, but billions of people all over the world. Billions.
It’s overwhelming.
While I sit here and type, people I knew years ago are sleeping, going to jobs, traveling, crying, laughing, shopping, tending snakes, and who knows what else.
I want to make some sort of deep comment about life, but I’m drawing a blank. Being aware of others – whether they’re alive now or lived before us – can change us. It’s up to you how it changes you.
As you wrote this I was inventing new epithets for my alarm clock. Those are not to be confused with epiphytes.