It Takes A Universe

Does “it” take a village?  No.

Actually, it takes a universe.

A single sentence isn’t simple at all:  I made dinner.  But before my singular hand culminated in food on a plate, the farmers bought seed, the rain fed the fields, the sun shone brightly, the workers tended and picked fruit and vegetables, the farmer found a buyer, the truck transported and the clerk took delivery.  Workers displayed, I chose my ingredients and paid for what the cashier tallied.  The bus drove me home because the routes were printed and I knew on what corner to stand; riders lined up, the traffic lights worked by the grace of math formulas, engineers and technicians; the roads were laid and lined, the driver heeded the signal, braked to let me out at the scheduled stop, and then commuters synchronized with me so that I could cross the street safely to enter the store.

This is my rant.

One singular event in any chain, in any activity, is just the last (if even the last) piece in the succession of universal effort, of the universe working together, acting together with devoted intention to create that moment in time; in this case, allowing me to buy the items to make dinner.

Even my occupation requires that I rarely say “I” did something because software launches, events and movies are not one-man bands.  Even a one-man band is made of parts. Award show acceptance speeches for best actor or movie are often litanies of “thank yous” to people whose collaboration made this happen, but maybe worked behind the scenes.  Who would Tom Cruise be without his stunt man (maybe Woody Allen)?

Take your coat.  Do you realize that the zipper was made by one manufacturer, the buttons another, the thread another, and so on?  The zipper alone is a sum of metal, fabrication, design, measurement, testing, and production.

In “I am the Walrus,” the Beatles sang, “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.”

So, can we, should we, SHOULDN’T we adopt the same approach in our daily routines? In our personal bests?  Would it make commuting more palatable knowing that all the cars are infinitely bound together for a single cause, interdependent on every driver (to stay in their lane, to be safety minded, to follow the laws, to have adequate brakes) so that I and he and you get to our destinations intact?  Every person or item we come in contact with, is pooling together to help me get to work, equally as I am for them.  It IS team effort!

Traffic as a dance
Changing lanes,
Changing partners.
Moving as a body
Rhythmic travel.
Cymbals clash in a wreck.
Simply… dancer out of step.