What are you thinking about? I'm thinking about the past, about the parts of me I had hoped I could leave behind when beginning this new stage of my life.
What are you thinking about? I'm thinking about the future, about how far away the person I want to be still seems.
What are you thinking about? I'm thinking about what I want.
I want to know you. I may know you at the surface, in passing, one of the many names I've tried my best to remember these past few weeks. But I want to really know you. What are you thinking about? What is it that you're searching for; what sends you digging through the past, staring in vain towards the future and trying to piece together the blurry shapes that may formulate into concrete achievements in days, weeks, months, and years to come?
I want to understand you. What challenges have you faced, are you still facing? What makes you happy, and what sends you over the edge? How do you see this world? Do you see the light of day or the cold of darkness? I know that I will never be able to completely understand you or your viewpoint. But I want to try. I want you to understand me, but I know that we lack the basis of the window that we each see through. The template upon which we ground our experiences and opinions is built on our unique backgrounds and struggles, including and also surpassing class, gender, race, and religion.
I want to see you. I want to hear you. But I know that no matter what is said, we will always hear something a little different. Connections are difficult when the lines are hazy between what we may mean and what is comprehended by another. Wouldn't it be nice, though, if we could actually see each other, hear each other, feel the extent of the joy and pain we each face?
I wonder if you think this too. I wish I knew. I wish I understood. I wish we took more time to think about each other and about the universal nature of our desires. We often find ourselves caught up in feeling as though we don't belong. But if none of us feel as though we belong, what exactly is it that we are trying to belong to? That is a question to which I am still trying to find the answer yet one that has allowed me to appreciate the power in embracing individuality. There is nothing wrong with having an idea of where we want to take our lives. There is also nothing wrong with figuring out what we may want to pursue moving forward. Above all, we owe it to ourselves to outrun the shadows of our pasts and chase the visions of our futures. Above all, we have to remember to pause in the present and take a moment to breathe. One way or another, we will all be ok.