October 4, 2011
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Sometimes there just aren’t enough rocks
A thing that happened that no one will ever remember is the most secret kind of thing there is. Most things end up secrets.
You will either live the right life or a life that everyone else understands.
Most men are swallowed up in their quest for economic importance.
I told myself I should quit wasting my time. But once I did I found there was nothing to do.
You imagine walls between you and other people that aren’t really there.Sometimes I ask people what sort of things tend to be the most sacred to them: places, words, or things. I walked home from my friend Larry’s house tonight. He lives a few houses down from me and I didn’t even know it. And then I realized it was a very sad thing that I can assume about most people that they don’t know their neighbors.
A loss of the sacredness of place. Technology can connect us from wherever we are to someone who is somewhere very far away. But then what place does place have in our lives? Does it dim? Does the color fall out of your memories? Where are all your texts? You remember where you were during that one phone call, but can you remember where they were? Is one facebook message different in scenery from the next? Where am I as I write this?
I walk past Buckeye Donuts a lot and see the same guys there. I know their names and have talked to them. Bob, Charlie, Paul. They are always there, for years and years they have been there. It is like a marriage for them; Buckeye Donuts and each other. That’s where they go.
Where do you go? What are the places of your life? What scenes would a person have to see to understand you? Is there somewhere you go to chop all your trees?
I think many people have at least two incompatible desires: The desire to be a part of a community and the desire to not miss anything. But alas! If you leave and travel in your quest to not miss anything, you will miss having been part of a community.
I’m glad I have friends from those long ago places, friends that have stayed, friends that are worth bugging.
Comments (3)
“You will either live the right life or a life that everyone else understands” and “You imagine walls between you and other people that aren’t really there” –SO awesome. So deliciously quotable.
I think I say this to you a lot, but I love the way you think.
~V
I try not to take my friends for granted, but sometimes that only leads to me realizing that they take me for granted as well. Fortunately that doesn’t happen every time, and I am lucky enough to say that I am happy to have friends from those “long ago” places too.
–I really like that bit about the loss of sacredness of place. That’s a very interesting thought.
I always look forward to reading your posts. Thank you.
“I think many people have at least two incompatible desires: The desire to be a part of a community and the desire to not miss anything. But alas! If you leave and travel in your quest to not miss anything, you will miss having been part of a community.” -So very true. I spent years traveling all over the world, but now I rather miss the sense of community that is enjoyed by my more sedentary friends.