WHEN DECISIONS COLLIDE
We pass through the world with our fellow human beings acting as background to our own self-absorbed little world. As they do us. Every once in a while… we interact.
It has been said that all the world's a stage and we are merely players. And it is true: you are indeed the star of your own show. But who are all of these other idiots in the scene acting like they got their own show?! No one told us that being the star in our own show meant we had to share the stage with other people who were starring in their own show at the same time. What? I’m a bit player in their show?! Where’s my contract?!
The truth is we pass through the world with our fellow human beings acting as background to our own self-absorbed little world. As they do us. Every once in a while… we interact.
IT’S YOUR HIKE
Your decisions are made based on your hopes and dreams. You have plans for yourself in this life. Big plans! Or little plans! It doesn’t matter the size, just that they exist. You may say, “I don’t have any plans at all”. Yes you do.
You say, “No I don’t. I am going to sit around the house all day in my underwear, doing nothing but watch TV and eat guacamole and bean dip.”
Sounds like a great plan! It is really difficult to not have a plan. Even the act of letting your mind go completely blank requires some level of forethought. Seriously: Not planning IS planning. It’s kind of like chaos. It’s GOING to happen. Deal with it.
Once you have a plan (or a plan to not have a plan) you then base all of your decisions toward reaching the goals of that plan (Mmmmmm guacamole….). That’s how it works. If you are ever going to get somewhere, you must decide where you want to go, and then put one foot in front of the other and start marching towards the goal. It’s like a long hike.
On a hike you choose a starting point (where you are now) and a destination (where you want to be). There is always more than one way to get where you want to go, so you choose your path to suit your needs: scenic, quick, etc. You choose how fast or how slow the pace and whether or not to stop and take in the scenery. You can even change course, if’n you want. You may, halfway through your march, decide on a new destination. Hell, it’s your hike! Hike it like it’s yours. Your goal defines your decisions. And your decisions will take you to your goal.
Problem is: everyone else is doing exactly the same thing.
As noted, you have your own hopes and dreams. So does everyone else. And everyone is hiking all over the place. Everyone on the planet has something to do and are making decisions every moment to get it done. They have picked a destination with as much deliberation (or not) as you, have chosen a path that best suits their individual needs, and are stomping off in that direction. One foot in front of the other, systematically working to their goal. Making their own decisions based on their own hopes and dreams.
All of these hopes and dreams are as important to all of the hopers and dreamers as yours are to you. Everyone wants to get to where they are going. Everyone tries to get there to the best of their ability. They don’t do it exactly the same way you do. In fact, they might do it in exactly the opposite way - they might be walking backwards down the path. That decision is theirs. If it’s working, it’s working.
As long as we all make it to our goals, who cares how we get there.
MEANINGFUL INTERACTION
You’re out there making decisions based on your hopes and dreams. Everyone else is out there making decisions on their hopes and dreams. Because life is chaotic, eventually you are going to bump into someone else. It happens constantly. Like ALL. THE. TIME.
Think about a simple trip to the grocery store. You find yourself with a sudden hankering for honeydew melon. No good reason. Just got a hankering. Soon the automatic doors of the supermarket are sliding open as you enter. There is someone in the vestibule struggling to pull two carts apart (bump). You get through the entry and on to the produce section. There is someone weighing a head of lettuce in their hand (bump). There is someone contemplating apples (bump). You find the melon section and come across an employee loading honeydews (bump). Honeydew in hand, you make your way to the express checkout. You have to wait in line (bump). You finally get to the cashier and you pay with exact change (bump).
The simple act of buying a honeydew (your decision) puts you on course to interact with any number of people who are all doing their own thing (their decisions). The amount of people we have even a slight interaction with on any given day can be staggering. This is the very essence of existence: we interact.
These interactions, regardless of how small or mundane, matter. Because you have an impact, they can be meaningful. And they can change the course of a person’s day dramatically. These interactions don’t have to be huge displays of life affirming joyousness. You do not need to break into song and leap into dance for an interaction to be impactful (but it wouldn’t hurt). It can be small. It usually is small. The choices we make in how we interact with each other is what binds us together and gives meaning to existence.
That is how it is. We live our lives as others move in and out of it, and we move in and out of theirs. Everyone’s decisions end up interacting with everyone else’s. Even for a brief moment. It’s in these brief moments - these smallest of interactions - where we find happiness.