I used to be a high school science teacher, which means I’ve taught hundreds of lessons on cycles. How the water we drink has passed through mountain passes, down rivers, been evaporated into clouds and drank (and urinated out) by at least seven other people.
How the food we eat has been produced ultimately by the sun stimulating plants to convert light to food, which allows cows to graze and us the privilege of eating steak (thank you God), or just the plant in question (#vegetarian). And then one day we, the cow and the plant will one day return to the earth and worms will eat us, allowing more plants and cows and future versions of us to grow.
In all of these hundreds of lessons, every once in a while, I stop, stare out the window from my third-floor lab overlooking sun-kissed school football fields and think ‘This is happening right now. Sun. Grass. Grazing. Humans. The cycle continues.’ Or, sometimes something more morbid like ‘I wonder how many people before me, are now in some strange way, a part of me.’
From Japanese sushi to English Yorkshire Puddings, Ugandan Busuutis to Chinese New Year Dragons, Russian ballet to Brazilian street dance, our connections to each other, in particular families, at particular times, in particular places, creates a unique beauty that brings joy to everyone that gets to encounter it.
Welcome to my weird and wonderful mind. You see, we don’t just exist, we are people that have a place – earth. We are intimately connected with this planet, and as we have seen over the last century, our actions here either help or devastate both us and other life that calls this planet home.
But we aren’t just connected individuals existing in abstract life-cycles; we live in community. Nations, societies, and cultures that explode in a diverse array of colour, food and experience. From Japanese sushi to English Yorkshire Puddings, Ugandan Busuutis to Chinese New Year Dragons, Russian ballet to Brazilian street dance, our connections to each other, in particular families, at particular times, in particular places, creates a unique beauty that brings joy to everyone that gets to encounter it.
Ultimately, to be human is to be connected to people and a place where we can enjoy one another’s presence. Lord knows I wouldn’t want to live in a world without Japanese Art, iPhones, African Coffee, Spanish Chorizo or Croissants.
