Pause for one second. Think of the exact place you are in right now. Note the time. Remember the people you have conversed with in the last few hours.
Why are you here? Right now?
One theory in physics claims that every decision made creates a new reality. While I don’t feel that is fully true, it does present a point. What had to happen to bring this moment into your reality?
While the full philosophical discussions on that topic will be saved for another day, I present to you what I feel is the most important component of this observation: other people.
Life is people; people are life
A lot of things shape our lives: locations, weather, talents, gifts, genetics, environmental demands. Other than the weather, people control and alter all of those factors (although people are trying to change that too…another topic for another time).
The people who raised you chose a particular location, whether by intention or not. Things you were exposed to combined with your inborn potential and developed unique gifts and skill sets. Even something as fundamental as your genetic code stems from the gametes of two other people.
Without the influence of other people, you would not exist. Further, without the continued influence of other people, you would cease to exist.
Every dot is unique
Humans are complicated individuals. If no two fingerprints are alike, much less are any two personalities. We all have similarities, but even greater differences that make us who we are.
Society focusses on being “different” one day and then demands group “identity” the next. But does the greater society appreciate what true differences and true similarities are? I’ve not seen it on the news.
The truth is that every person you meet is nothing like the last, yet completely the same.
We all have the same right to life and liberty and are children of the same God, but no two of us have the exact same perspective…even those from identical surroundings.
Lines connect the dots.
How someone affects you is completely unique. Just like mixing orange and blue is not the same as green and blue. Only the human experience is far more dynamic than the color spectrum, even if combined with every other measurement known to man.
It is easy to see this in some instances. Most certainly my grandparents have a different experience with my parents than I do. A coworker is different than a sibling.
But even when the relationship seems the same, it cannot be.
For example, only three people in the entire world shared my parents as being their parents. Of them, I am the only boy…obvious difference. Even between the two girls, one is older and the other younger. Beyond that, they each have different genetics and personalities. Their life experiences are not completely identical. It furthers their own development and uniqueness.
The lines make a picture.
Take a second now to think about every human being you have come in contact with. Your family. Friends. Community. Your sources of education and entertainment. Even your enemies.
We often take these people and connections for granted. We see what we have accomplished. What we know. How we approach the world. But do we not see that this experience is only the way it is because of the choices and impacts others have had on us?
We think we are the picture, but we are just a dot. A unique dot…but still a dot. It is only a picture because of all of the radiant lines connecting us to others.
My picture.
I am so thankful for the connections that have created who I am. I honestly believe that not a single person came into my life without a reason.
The impact my parents and sisters had on my life is beyond words. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, cousins, and entire family tree.
The friends and acquaintances I had growing up and through our schooling endeavors. The friends, tutees (that is still a funny word), and professors I met through graduate school. The authors of the countless educational materials I have absorbed over the years. The patients I have worked with, and the doctors who have worked on me. The people I work with every day be it in person or across the digital world.
And of course, God. Showing his presence directly, but also through all of these aforementioned individuals.
Without any one of those people, I would not be the exact person I am today. I can see how each of them has contributed to my life.
If you are any one of those people… Thank you. Thank you for helping to create this picture I call my life. Just reading this, in a way, makes you one of those people.
Take it serious.
If all of these things played into this exact moment in time, then it makes me think about my time seriously. What should we be doing to help form someone else’s picture? My great uncle, among others, taught me that could be something as small as a joke and a good laugh. A joyful heart is good medicine after all.
Since I’m not a comedy writer, I will just ramble on a blog. But I hope it affects your story. Ideally not just by wasting the time it took you to read this far…