Of thought, that is. While driving back to the office from lunch today, I passed BRCC, the first church I ever belonged to, and I noticed there is a huge new building on the front of the property…I am assuming it is the new worship space, but I really have no idea. I am amazed every time my life takes me up to the northwest side of town how many more houses, gas stations, restaurants, strip malls, and traffic lights there are. I remember back in high school when all the land for miles north of my house was just wide open space, and how refreshing it was to drive somewhere without seeing billboards. The city is expanding, and the standard of living here is improving, but I can’t help but wonder if we are leaving some good things behind in the process of moving society forward. Will I remember those good things in 30 years?
A few minutes later my co-worker and I passed my elementary school, and a flood of memories rushed to my head. About the only positive thing I can remember from 5th grade is winning the spelling bee. And meeting Alison Lowther, my one and only friend for several years growing up. I wonder where my trophy is.
Back in the office, a post on a friend’s blog triggered some thoughts about books and writing…there are so many books on every topic imaginable out there…sometimes I wonder if there is really anything new under the sun or if all the brilliant insights into life, the universe, and everything have already been made…I hope not, because that would definitely put a damper on my plans to write books one day myself…but in the meantime, I am glad we have so many sources of information and perspective (via books/music/film) on the people, places, and events of this world, because somewhere in the middle of all the facts and opinions available to us lies the meaning of these days.
Would the passage of time have any significance if we did not record its passing by assigning dates and times to the events and experiences that have shaped our individual and collective identities? Sometimes it is the date and time that are etched on our memories, like letters carved into the marble of a monument. But sometimes faces & images are seared into our minds with a timeless quality that allows us to step back into moments and relationships as if no time had passed at all.
Perhaps dates and times matter little in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps the only thing that matters is how the living of these days is growing us, shaping us, bringing us together or drawing us apart, guiding us toward eternity or leading us astray.
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3 comments:
Re paragraph 3...I've have these thoughts in regards to music--there are a limited number of notes and a sort of limited number of instruments on which to play them (although there are always composers who throw in strange things, as my percussionist husband knows all too well), but they continue to be combined into new and unique compositions.
Anya, the kazoo is used far too little, I think. Had Mozart been familiar with it, I'm confident he wouldn't given it more play time.
Hee. I was the runner-up in my fifth grade spelling bee.
And I think the idea of folksonomies, that members of a crowd can categorize data in as meaningful a way as experts and share that data with other interested users for little or no cost, is pretty astonishing AND new (if only in terms of scope). And yet, the most obvious examples of this (Flickr, Technorati, etc.) were just quietly accepted with relatively little comment.
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