we sometimes overlook
the dynamic system of interactions
that make a human being—
if a child struggles, it was the parent’s struggle
if a student is lacking, it’s the teacher’s lack —
sibling to sibling, friend to friend,
lover to lover…
if a worker is languishing,
you must look to the boss…
and of course, in most cases,
vice versa…
we all shape one another,
we all affect one another —
I am you as much as you are me,
the writer who was accepted
is the same writer who was rejected —
they are each other —
they are connected…
isn’t it weird sometimes
when someone reminds you
of something that you haven’t
thought about in god knows how long?
like you literally would have never
remembered that thing again
had that person not brought it up
and enabled you to retrieve it
from your brain…
they triggered a cascade of
remembrance in you…
does that mean they gave you
a memory back?
or was it there the entire time?
it is our language — words spoken
in key moments, that keeps
the consciousness of the past alive
Garbage Notes:
This poem is a reminder that we all affect one another. We’re all connected even if we don’t realize it.
So much of how your life unfolds has to do with the people around you. But also it could be affected by people you don’t know or people you can’t even imagine, somewhere out there in some other part of the world.
Maybe you got a job offer or got accepted into something kind of competitive. For you to get in, someone else had to not get in. For you to land that story in a magazine, someone had to get the rejection. But on some other occasion, the tables will be turned and it will be the opposite outcome.
What’s the difference between you and that other person? Probably very little. In terms of what you wanted—your intentions, your goals—you are connected in a way that perhaps both of you will never fully appreciate.
Parents, mentors, siblings, friends, lovers, coworkers, rivals, enemies, bosses, the asshole stranger who cut you off in traffic, the dickhead who got the last parking space instead of you, which then causes you to be late, which then causes you to get fired. The doctor who diagnoses your illness, which then saves your life. The person who gives up their seat for you on the train, the pencil pusher who decides to dole out a much needed bureaucratic act of kindness, the random person on the street.
It could be anyone, any single person, could have a huge effect on you without you ever even understanding the magnitude of it. Life is weird like this. We do not exist in a vacuum.
So when I was writing this, I really wanted to convey the miracle of how our communications and our interactions with one another, no matter how minor, can cause life altering and even brain altering changes.
From language to action, from past to future, from hope to memory—we should always be in tune with that collective group consciousness and how it leads to a world full of unique but very much interconnected individuals.
Franco Amati 2024
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Love this, thank you ❤
Love this. It's so true. As a crisis worker, most people I work with report getting assistance not from government programs or non-profits but from the people around them, the kindness of the stranger. Indeed, we are all connected. It's easy to forget the indelible mark we can make on another's life through small acts of kindness.