Wednesday 11th January

Everything Matters.  Nothing Matters

Everything matters.  We live in an incredibly interconnected world; in fact it is getting harder and harder to live in isolation from the World (even if one wanted to).  And as we are so connected everything we do has an effect, even if we don’t realise it, on other people,  Every time we are rude or aggressive it affects people, that rudeness which is maybe shrugged off makes the world a ruder place.  And likewise every kindness, every smile we bestow, every thank you spreads a little human warmth around.  Every word written, every book read deepens our understanding of humanity.  So, even if we feel powerless against those who rule our world, or the changes we see all around us –we are part of the solution.  We are changing the world with every action we take.

Nothing matters.  I used to keep every book I ever read, and there have been a hell of a lot over the years.  When I sold my London house I went through the multiple boxes and bookshelves and dusty piles in the loft and de-cluttered, throwing out lesser loved tomes but keeping just my favourites, the ones I might one day read again in retirement (haha – as if I would ever find the time).  I reboxed them and took them with me.  Seven years on I am again de-cluttering and keeping around half.  Even these I will never re-read or if I do it will be on kindle. And all of that knowledge, all that ‘wisdom’ I absorbed means nothing – it will die with me.  Nothing matters in the end.  No-one now remembers famous people of even one hundred years ago.  We live in a disposable world.  Fifteen minutes of fame is soon forgotten.  And even as a species we barely matter, when we are gone, and even if we take the planet with us the Universe will hardly blink as it rolls relentlessly on.

So Everything Matters and yet Nothing Matters.  Two seemingly contradictory ideas which are both true and co-exist happily/unhappily together.  Smile (or not) it might matter.