An old man who has lived with obsessive-compulsive disorder
for the past sixty-five years meticulously avoids the cracks in his driveway as
he rolls his trash and recycle bins to the street. He spends three minutes
carefully placing the bins an equal distance from a tree that stands a foot
from the edge of the road. Opening and shutting, then reopening the bins, until
they are to his satisfaction. Then he saunters back up his driveway, never
stepping on a single crack.
A group of college boys stand in an ally, passing a football
back and forth. Each of them wears a tight tee shirt to show off the muscles
they have been working on all winter and are ready to show in the summer sun.
As they throw the ball, they brag loudly of the “chicks” they have been spending
their time with, the parties they have attended, and the classes they have
skipped all in hopes that someone is listening.
A woman, who lives alone in her one bedroom apartment, has always
been an introvert to a debilitating degree. She rarely leaves the confines of
her home and gets nervous when people talk to her in the checkout lane at the
grocery store. She has a self-imposed challenge to place herself in social
situations. Today she went to the science museum. She performs the experiment
displays with child-like wonder, always looking around nervously, very aware of
anyone who may notice her. As a group of school children on a field trip run
by, she sinks into a dark corner hoping no one will detect her presence.
A man speed walks at an alarming rate down the street with a
package from the post office held delicately at chest height, elbows drawn in
to his sides. The package remains unmoving as his body bounces with each quick,
jerky step. He hopes when he gets home to his wife it will be the answer
they’ve been waiting for.
A young woman who has recently dropped out of school reminds
herself every day that she deserves better than what she has allowed herself to
become. When she is alone, the self-doubt and fear creeps in, often times
rendering her useless. She is afraid to attempt to reach her potential. She is
afraid to fail. Around her friends she tells a story of progress and exciting
opportunity, a story of her desires not of reality. She sits on her porch,
staring up at the clouds, feeling a warm breeze, and wishing she could be blown
away.
As different as we all may be as individuals, we are all
inherently part of this larger body called humanity. Since the beginning of
time we have all spent our lives seeking out each other in one way or another.
A friendly word to a stranger on the street, going out on a first date, posting a
YouTube video, writing a book, reading a book, listening to music, learning
history…
There are billions of us, all living on this one planetary body that hurls
through space at an alarming rate. As different as we are, as often as we are
unaware of each other, as much as we may fight, at the end of the day we can
all look up and see the same stars.
*Artwork by the other benefactor of my parents' benevolence and hard-earned money...my sister, Carsen.
