A shift in perspective

I've been doing a potential unhealthy amount of thinking recently. One of the things that kept coming up was the idea of individuality. My train of thought went something like this:

Humans are unique >
We are unique because of our combination of interests and traits >
This is not the whole truth >
We are unique because of our unique connections to other people >
We create unique networks.

All of this landed me at one conclusion: The nature of the human connection is misconstrued. There is a lot of emphasis on the connection of love between people when the emphasis should be on the more ordinary connections between friends because it is these that define us as people. I find English to be inaccurate here. Greek is a better language because they had different words for the concept of 'love.' There was Eros, which is romantic/erotic love and Philia, which is love between close friends. We might use the words 'soul mate.'

My point is that we, as a culture, should focus more on the relationships of Philia than the relationships of Eros. Eros also as the concept of love in spite of flaws where Philia carries the concept of love because of flaws. It is in the nature of a friendship that both parties will come to accept and enjoy the difference between them. My best friend has always been quiet and a bit anti-social. I see these traits as flaws but that hasn't stopped us from being close friends to this day. In fact, I've come to admire his aloofness and separation from socio-politics. Not to the point where I would change myself, but to the point where I admit it's influence.

These connections are far more valuable than the fleeing connections of romance or even the lasting connection of a true love. The friends who we come to admire and respect become our greatest allies and champions, just as we become their loudest advocates. It's is this web of strong, interpersonal connections that make us truly unique.

I don't know what ramifications this will have on me or the future, but I do know that the only way to change the world is to change your mind about it. Having done that, the only solution to the unfolding equation is change.

Muah!
Lyrinoir

"Only This Moment"

Random song lyrics. This time from Royksopp.

"Only This Moment"

Stay or forever go
Play or you’ll never know
Your spirit's divided
You will decide if I’m all you’ve been waiting for

Guilt in my head
Hath been parted by grace
by the voice of an angel
Revealing her face
And her words they make sense and I do understand,
Falling in love isn’t part of her plan
Forces within me, mix reason with lust
But I try to accept it and not make it worse
Cause I know I might lose you by taking the chance
But love without pain isn’t really romance
Okay

Only this moment
Holds us together
Close to perfection
Nothing is out there
Always beside her
Trusting my senses
Deep down inside
I know love will survive

Lyrinoir

Fire

At 3:30 AM this morning, I was wakened by my apartment-mate, Jon with a call of, “Fire!” Primarily in a state of delirium at the time, I fell out of bed only to become painfully aware that I was wearing not a shred of clothing and that I could see an orange flicker through the blinds over my window. Donning the only appropriate garment I could manage to operate, my well worn, blue bathrobe, I spent a frantic thirty seconds locating my keys before jumping into my sandals and dashing toward the front door.

The apartment complex directly adjacent to mine was shooting flames from its top floor and roof. The brilliant orange glow suffused the surrounding area, as neighbors emerged from their homes in various states of consciousness. Jon emerged from the apartment, fully dressed, a few moments after me and we both crossed the street to watch the nightmare unfold. Firetrucks had already begun to arrive, but despite their reassuring presence, I was worried that the flames would jump ship and ignite our roof. A small pile of burning debris landed right outside my bedroom window.

At this point, I was substantially more awake than I had been in my room and I was beginning to wish I had had the wherewithal to grab some of my more expensive possessions. But it was far too late for me to even consider venturing back in even if the pile of burning rubble hadn't been so dangerously close to my window.

Two hours and much shivering later, the fire was extinguished with only smoke remaining. The nine firetrucks that had gathered were all still there, complimented by the Red Cross van that had showed up. I was still in my bathrobe, desperately trying to figure out if I could get back in my apartment, which was blessedly unharmed.

I want to say that the whole thing changed my perspective or something like that, but all I can really think about is how glad I am that it didn't happen to me. You see disasters in movies and watch how the actors respond to them and you think that if something like that happened to you, you'd be selfless and strong. But the reality is that humans are selfish bastards. Or at least I am.

I do feel bad. I had a friend who lived in the complex and most of his belongings are probably burnt or waterlogged. I can't imagine what he's going through.

For now, I'm going to try and get through the day and thank whatever beneficent forces saw fit to stop the fire two feet from my window.

Lyrinoir