To

A thought occurred to me the other day; I don't really know why. As my buddy Lucas says in Empire Records, "Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear." My thought is this: "to" is the most important word in the English language. Here's why. "To" establishes a relationship between people and other people, objects and other objects, people and objects, objects and people, and so on. More and more every day I am reminded of the selfish nature of people, and how much our collective society caters to the individual. Especially in today's world, where everyone is freaking out over whether they will have a job tomorrow, or a roof over their heads, or money for their latte, there is an increasing disconnect between individuals and the world around them.

Let's think of our prepositional little friend, "to". "To" can be used for good things, such as "the handsome stranger applied sunscreen to my back," or "All signs point to yes". "To" can be used for bad things, such as "She handed the speeding ticket to me," or "Why would anyone do this to us?"

This was probably all subconsciously spawned by my recent burglary. As someone who has now been unemployed for over four months, I can empathize with people who are in tough times and are desperate for even a couple bucks. But the fact of the matter is, there is always someone on the other side of the story. When they took my stuff, they didn't just take things, they took my time and energy, sentimental objects (see previous post), and generally left a mess for me to clean up that is ultimately more expensive than the value of stolen goods. What if the thieves had taken a moment to think about the people they did this to? On a related note, I've dealt with a lot of bureaucracy in the last week, which has only furthered my belief in valuing relationships. Respect is a mutual thing, and it's alarming to see how many people out there expect to receive it without giving it out. Give love to each other.

From there, it just spirals outward. What if we were conscious of all the effects our words and actions did to the world around us? What if we could sense what each styrofoam box would ultimately do to the Pacific Ocean? What if we could see how many times a smile would get passed on when we show it to one other person? What if we could really know how much it means when we really listen to our partners? How much of a difference does it make when we talk to people and not at them?

I wonder...