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when something is bigger
December 06, 2006
the world moves relentlessly. it moves with our sun at 250 million miles an hour around the black hole at the center of our galaxy. it revolves at 65,000 miles an hour around the sun, spins at 1,040 miles per hour.
and as if that is not enough, life, both real and contructed, has inertia of its own.
the news is full of stories, tales of life and death. i read the news today, as everyone else did, that James Kim, the man who had left his family in their stranded car to find help had been found dead.
the news is enough, should be enough.
but tonight, my gmail pulled up a story on engadget.com, a website dedicated to talking about technology, and that story linked me to cnet.com, a major website offering reviews about tech products, and links to purchase them. it's a heavy player in a heavy market, with a major role to play in generating and perpetuating the inertia of one of the worlds we've created.
today, though, the cnet.com homepage doesn't have splashy pictures linking to stories about the latest iPod iteration, or the relative merits of the new crop of plasma televisions. today, there is a picture of James Kim and his daughter, links to his articles, and a message from his coworkers at the site.
people die every day. the news of their deaths and the details of their lives have to breach the multiple concentric walls built by necessity, perhaps, around our hearts - did who they were or the nature of their death make the death noteworthy or interesting? were they american? from my state? from my hometown? did i know them?
i know more stories should get through to my heart. but tonight, i find some sort of peace and solace and humainty in feeling these worlds both real and imagined slow and stop just long enough for something bigger, something real, to reach our hearts.
Posted by Rob at December 6, 2006 11:30 PM
Comments
Thanks for putting things into perspective Rob. We need more James Kims in this world.
Posted by: Lorrie at December 7, 2006 09:14 AM
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Posted by: MikeW at December 7, 2006 07:55 PM
Would love to hear from you , have sent some emails but no response. wondering how you are. though provoking entry.
allwillster@gmail.com
Posted by: allison williams at December 17, 2006 08:14 PM