Of Stones and Ponds

This begins the first post of my new discourse with you, reader, whomever you happen to be.  I have been an on and off blogger/journalist since 2004, and I intend to see how this work shall compare to my earlier material.  The major impetus for this renewal came less than a week ago, while sitting in the woods by myself communing with nature.  I would hesitate to liken myself to Thoreau, waxing eloquently about the importance and majesty of nature while sipping tea beside a lake in Massachusets, but that seems to be the partial inspiration. Another impetus is the cathartic nature of writing itself, coupled with the fact that at some point down the road, I use these memoirs as a touchstone to reorient myself to specific points in my life.  Which brings me to the topic of this post's ramblings:

One's past.

I find I frequently return to this topic in many of my musings and ramblings, perhaps obsessively, but for this reintroduction it shall provide a fair topic.  As beings infused with the ability to sense the three physical dimensions, the fourth dimension, or time, merely appears to pass before our consciousness (perhaps my next topic).  However, at any given state in your life, you are the product of the past.  Consider, without evaluating or judging, the choices you have made in your life.  These choices influenced the past for you in a certain way that brought about the person you are today.  As a result of this change our interaction with the world changed in some degree or another, and in some way we have interacted with our universe. Approximately five years ago I attended a concert less than miles from where I currently sit.  It took about an hour and a half to get to that concert.  Had you told me then that I'd be sitting at a desk reflecting upon that moment five years later, I'm not sure what I would think.  Additionally had you told me that information, the world we currently live in would be quite different.  Any number of factors responsible for bringing about the current state of the world would have been altered, and in some perceptible way things would most likely be different.  If you don't know what I mean, go watch Back to the Future, it's alright, I'll wait.
 . . . . .
You back?  Okay.  Where were we?  Oh yes, time.  The thing about time is the amazing things that can happen in such a short amount of it.  Consider a typical Sunday afternoon during fall.  Somewhere in the country is probably a football game, and occasionally the result of a game will come down to the leg of one man.  This man will be attempting to kick a ball perhaps 40 yards or so, in an effort to win the game for his team.  Maybe you have his number and decide to call him shortly before the game.  Perhaps you got in an argument.  Maybe that argument has him rattled.  Perhaps his nerves cause him to lose his concentration, and he ends up missing the posts, and his team suffers a defeat by the narrowest of victories.  As a result, bets placed on the game go one way or the other, and the world is impacted.  Now, not every choice or action we take can be isolated in such a way, or indeed viewed in such a direct light.  For instance, maybe the kicker had indigestion because he had a meal that was improperly prepared.  But none the less, it doesn't make them any less important.

Much like a stone tossed into a pond creates ripples that spread across the surface of the water our actions spread out across the world and change the face of the future.  To that end, we are reinforced by our past and continually reinventing the future in every moment.  Right down to the smallest division of time, if such division is in fact possible.  With so many stones being cast into the water, the placid surface of that pond is a constantly changing tumultuous pattern of interfering waves and roils.  To that end, everything appears chaotic, and one loses the trees because of the advancing forest.  Remember though that the trees do exist, and every moment a new one takes root in the soil.

I had hoped to keep this brief and concise and hopefully on point, but for the time being, I see this as an acceptable reintroduction.  Here's to the planting another another tree, the cast of a pebble into a pond, or the conscious choice to take one path as opposed to another.