We Are All Connected
So, we have meteors crashing into Russia and asteroids screaming by the Earth close enough to see.
Strange, right?
It sort of blows my mind when I think about the fact that the asteroid is the size of a couple of football fields and it's gliding on by. When you think about all that has gone on while the universe is spinning, you get that we are but a speck of that time.
Think of that when you're waiting in line behind the guy as he clicks through his lottery picks. Time passes slowly there, right? We argue over the most mundane and senseless stuff. We entertain ourselves by watching bad behavior. We are trying desperately to amuse ourselves to death, but consider this:
The other night I woke from a dream thinking: 'We're all connected.'
And I had no idea what it could mean.
Are we all connected?
I'm not just talking about me and you here. I'm actually considering everyone all through time.
I've become fond of saying that love kicks death's ass and that no one who is truly loved ever dies, but it might be more than that. I consider that those who have gone before us are still alive in so many ways. Their spirit, their lives, their heartbeat is still part of the fabric of everything that has ever happened.
Too deep?
Think of it this way.
Those people aren't gone because things they said and did still enter your mind in all kinds of ways, like when something similar happens, or in dreams, or in the eyes of the children they left behind, or in the way they lit up your heart.
And it's not as if they are gone, but that they are actually in another city or state, just out of physical reach.
They surely aren't out of mental reach, right?
They certainly still have a spiritual presence.
They are in your laugh.
They are in your tears.
They just are.
Another thing to consider.
Imagine the first time that you went on a date. Can you remember that? It's sort of a common experience, right?
Do you remember the butterflies in your stomach the first time you reached to hold her hand, or the first time that he reached for your hand?
Do you recall the movie you saw or the dance that you attended?
Can't you almost imagine all of it once more.
It's not gone.
The moment has passed but it is still really alive.
Don't believe me?
I was in 8th grade and the dance was held in the dimly lit high school gym. The Class of 82 banner was strung on the back wall and I remember thinking that 1982 was so far away.
There was a knot in my stomach because I couldn't dance. My mouth was dry because I was nervous when it came to talking to a girl.
Yet somehow there I was with a pretty girl as a date. She was in a off-white dress. She wore glasses, but she was pretty enough to pull it off.
My tie felt like it was choking me. She was concerned that her friends were being rude. I heard my Mom's voice in my head, 'Be a gentleman.'
I got my date a plastic cup filled with really red punch, and she smiled when she thanked me.
And time went quickly that night but here it is, alive, almost 40 years later.
Every moment.
Before long we were alone. We walked towards the Lemon Tree to meet up with our friends. I was thinking about getting a great burger and a plate of curly fries. I can still almost taste those curly fries covered in ketchup and vinegar.
Halfway across the lawn at the front of the high school I finally reached for her hand.
I recall all the minutes that passed so slowly as I worked up the courage to do it.
As I wrote that sentence just now, I felt the nervousness creep up inside of me again. As a grown man with a wife and children.
The butterflies are still alive.
She slid her hand into mine, and I felt the stickiness of the sweaty coupling. Was her hand sweating or was it mine? What did she think?
That moment is not gone.
It's out there in the air, alive between two people who haven't physically seen one another in about thirty years.
But it's alive.
And that's where the connections go, on and on, all of us together.
The shared experiences of being connected somewhere.
The love stays.
The hate stays.
The laughter stays.
The tears stay.
Happiness and sadness are co-mingled in our community of being.
Our bodies go.
Our spirit doesn't.
Maybe one day that asteroid will strike the Earth, but the universe will just keep right on spinning, and all that we did here will continue.
Through eternity.
Strange, right?
It sort of blows my mind when I think about the fact that the asteroid is the size of a couple of football fields and it's gliding on by. When you think about all that has gone on while the universe is spinning, you get that we are but a speck of that time.
Think of that when you're waiting in line behind the guy as he clicks through his lottery picks. Time passes slowly there, right? We argue over the most mundane and senseless stuff. We entertain ourselves by watching bad behavior. We are trying desperately to amuse ourselves to death, but consider this:
The other night I woke from a dream thinking: 'We're all connected.'
And I had no idea what it could mean.
Are we all connected?
I'm not just talking about me and you here. I'm actually considering everyone all through time.
I've become fond of saying that love kicks death's ass and that no one who is truly loved ever dies, but it might be more than that. I consider that those who have gone before us are still alive in so many ways. Their spirit, their lives, their heartbeat is still part of the fabric of everything that has ever happened.
Too deep?
Think of it this way.
Those people aren't gone because things they said and did still enter your mind in all kinds of ways, like when something similar happens, or in dreams, or in the eyes of the children they left behind, or in the way they lit up your heart.
And it's not as if they are gone, but that they are actually in another city or state, just out of physical reach.
They surely aren't out of mental reach, right?
They certainly still have a spiritual presence.
They are in your laugh.
They are in your tears.
They just are.
Another thing to consider.
Imagine the first time that you went on a date. Can you remember that? It's sort of a common experience, right?
Do you remember the butterflies in your stomach the first time you reached to hold her hand, or the first time that he reached for your hand?
Do you recall the movie you saw or the dance that you attended?
Can't you almost imagine all of it once more.
It's not gone.
The moment has passed but it is still really alive.
Don't believe me?
I was in 8th grade and the dance was held in the dimly lit high school gym. The Class of 82 banner was strung on the back wall and I remember thinking that 1982 was so far away.
There was a knot in my stomach because I couldn't dance. My mouth was dry because I was nervous when it came to talking to a girl.
Yet somehow there I was with a pretty girl as a date. She was in a off-white dress. She wore glasses, but she was pretty enough to pull it off.
My tie felt like it was choking me. She was concerned that her friends were being rude. I heard my Mom's voice in my head, 'Be a gentleman.'
I got my date a plastic cup filled with really red punch, and she smiled when she thanked me.
And time went quickly that night but here it is, alive, almost 40 years later.
Every moment.
Before long we were alone. We walked towards the Lemon Tree to meet up with our friends. I was thinking about getting a great burger and a plate of curly fries. I can still almost taste those curly fries covered in ketchup and vinegar.
Halfway across the lawn at the front of the high school I finally reached for her hand.
I recall all the minutes that passed so slowly as I worked up the courage to do it.
As I wrote that sentence just now, I felt the nervousness creep up inside of me again. As a grown man with a wife and children.
The butterflies are still alive.
She slid her hand into mine, and I felt the stickiness of the sweaty coupling. Was her hand sweating or was it mine? What did she think?
That moment is not gone.
It's out there in the air, alive between two people who haven't physically seen one another in about thirty years.
But it's alive.
And that's where the connections go, on and on, all of us together.
The shared experiences of being connected somewhere.
The love stays.
The hate stays.
The laughter stays.
The tears stay.
Happiness and sadness are co-mingled in our community of being.
Our bodies go.
Our spirit doesn't.
Maybe one day that asteroid will strike the Earth, but the universe will just keep right on spinning, and all that we did here will continue.
Through eternity.
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