And the World Spins Madly On

It's true. No matter what happens in our lives, good or bad, the world will just keep on spinning. It may be the sole thing that stays constant throughout each of our lives. With every bump we may stumble over and with each victory we may have, tomorrow will still come knocking at our doorstep, and we have no choice but to welcome it. We rely on the world to keep spinning, because if it didn't, well, there would be no conversation to be had. That's why we are allowed our own little worlds to be disrupted; maybe so everything else stays in balance. So with that thought, figuratively speaking, what or who makes the world stop spinning for you?

I believe my earliest experience with this was with the first passing of a close family member. It was my first time being a part of a funeral precession. The cars lined up, making their painfully slow advance from the funeral home to the cemetery and it almost seems as though time stops and your world actually stops spinning. Sitting silent among your family members, swollen eyes masked behind sunglasses, crumpled wads of tissues clenched within their shaking digits, lips quivering, and the only color is the fading wash of crimson upon your mother's lips. Looking out the window you see the rest of the world that's still spinning and passing you by, illuminated and colorful. There's singing, there's laughing, even conversation, all of which no longer exist in the place you find yourself. I remember thinking "What nerve those people have, don't they know how upset we are." But that moment is when I believe I learned that no matter how bad things would get in my life, the rest of the world just won't care. Clocks will keep ticking and the world will keep spinning, even when mine comes to a complete halt.

To this day, whenever I pass by a funeral precession I make it a point to show some sign of sympathy. No signing, no laughing, no conversation. So just in case any member of that party glances up to take a glimpse at the world that's passing them by, they'll feel comfort in seeing that outside of that motionless place they've found themselves, someone else's world has stopped spinning, too.