Individually we slowly grasp our surrounds. As kids we gather the stages of life skills. Later, we tackle the educational system and eventually exit to a job, a family, or another educational institution. In time, we mature in many ways and adopt adulthood.
Still later we embrace the social order that is immediately before us. The family. The neighborhood. The work environment. Church, commerce and culture come together in a tumble. Our world expands as we learn to balance it all.
Once learning the basics we soon learn that change forever wrests our understanding with new complexities. We adapt. We move on. We find rewards and interests that make it all worthwhile. Slowly we are aware of social order in broader contexts.
We share what we know with others and enter groups of common interest and fidelity. We adopt ways of thinking and filtering the rest of society. We are making sense of things. This is accomplished by sharing and trusting in norms of thinking and common definitions of terms.
As the world enlarges in time and experience, we continue sharing. Mixing timelines and frames of reference, we come to larger understandings of the real world. The boundaries stretch to include more territory and people, more topics and specialties of interest. We are growing. Cultures are growing in our minds.
Making sense of all this takes focus, attention, and gathering facts. Understanding it all in context takes more discipline and work. But in the end, there is no end. The kaleidoscope of change continues to challenge our senses. The only way to survive and thrive is to share and expand, share and expand.
Richness and texture of living excites. We try new things, trust and grow.
A pandemic makes this more obvious. And the obvious gives us the power to carry on and do the heavy lifting.
Tomorrow is another day.
April 30, 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment