Existence

I guess I am a bit philosophical today. Perhaps it is just a Gedanken-Experiment (look it up), or just a lament.

I learned today that my favorite teacher passed away. It was not unexpected, but as with many thing, I had hoped there was still time for him.

We are created within a circle, a bubble of sorts, made up of people, places and things. Some of us have more of one than another, some few of each and some lots of all. Over time, they all change.

As we start out, our early childhood circle is quite small. We have not been to many places, we associate with few people; mostly parents and have a few toys. As we grow, we add more toys, more people and more places to that circle. As we progress into adulthood, we shed the early toys and acqui=re new ones; cars, boats, houses and ‘things’ we deem important. As we move from place to place, those early places are removed from our circle and new ones added. The same happens with people. We forget many of our early friends and replace them with co-workers and neighbors.

As we progress to later life, we tend to not visit those early places and may in fact forget many of the details. Our memories get sketchy as to which friends we had, which things we had and where we had them. Our circle starts getting smaller and smaller as those memories fade.

I have a vivid memory of a small section of sand on a beach. I remember being there and have been back to see that location. It is quite different since a hurricane wiped that area clean, but I still know that location and see t as clear as day. I just can’t tell you who was there with me, or exactly when.

As we get into the last years of our life, we may start to confuse people, place and things. My Mother swore I lived in a specific location that never existed. She may have combined a number of memories into that thought, but who knows.

I am amazed that my teacher who passed at the age in his mid 80’s still recognized many of his past students from 50 years earlier. He certainly did better than my Mother.

I am afraid that I may end up as some have, with only a few people, places and things that I can remember. I believe that it is possible that this circle I speak of might end up with just one person in the middle, myself. Perhaps that is why I write these blogs, to keep my circle as large as I can, for as long as I can.