Alive

Let me ask you a question. As you are reading this, look around you. How many living beings do you see?
Count them for me, will you?
Alright, now we can resume.

There’s a word we often use – haunted. When I say this, maybe you think of horror – something that scares the living daylights out of you. Maybe like a ghost. In that case, you are partially right. Except that the ghosts that I am talking about are not the blood-curdling, eye-popping, spine-chilling ones we see in the movies. These are more subtle. Ghosts of your past, if you will. They say we are continually haunted by our past, by the incidents that have occurred, the memories that were made – they shape us. So why call it haunted? Why use a word that evokes an unnerving thought at the sound of it?

If I were to pick a word, I would probably go for “alive”.
Think about it. Is there something that meant absolutely nothing to you, which you have gradually associated with a particular incident, or a person? Maybe a pen was just a pen – a perfectly harmless non-living thing, until you signed your first job offer with it? A Rado was just another watch until your son bought you one with his salary. A t-shirt in your closet was just that, until someone pointed out that it made your eyes stand out. A perfume was just another sweet-smelling scent until you met someone who uses it. A route you took to work was just a traffic-laden mess until you moved on to a different job. A dish your friend got to school every day was just a bore until you spotted it on a restaurant menu on the other side of the world. A name was just a combination of letters until the day that particular combination brought a smile to your face. Even an emoji on your keyboard was just another yellow animated circle, until you texted someone long enough to know it was all they used.

When you see that pen, wear that watch or the t-shirt, catch a whiff of that perfume in a crowded place, take that route on an unsuspecting day, order that long-forgotten dish, hear that name in passing, or spot that emoji on your keyboard; each one of those things is suddenly fully alive – with memories, emotions, beautiful heart-warming tingles, and a soul of its own. How do you call these non-living? Or even haunted? Granted, there might also be certain things that bring back unpleasant thoughts, but that would still mean they are alive, just with a different emotion.

I believe that the more living things you gather in your backpack as you go through life, the better tale you tell. Imagine sifting through the backpack years from now, and spotting that particular pen. Look at where you are in that moment, miles from your first little job, having transitioned into a dozen others, maybe even given out a hundred jobs that will make a hundred more pens alive. You see what happens when something comes to life – it has the power to bring more life into this world. And the world will be more alive for it.

Even if you think you are alone, get a hold of one of the newly alive souls. Sit with it, and listen to the story it has to tell – the emotions it takes you through, the laughs it gets out of you, the memories it makes you revisit, and the people it makes you reconnect with. And suddenly you aren’t alone anymore. You are engulfed by a familiar sensation, and by people from years ago. It feels almost as if the only thing this soul lacks is a beating heart. But if you listen closely enough, maybe you could hear that too.

So count again, will you?