This is the title of one of my favorite songs by Dave Matthews Band. Yes, Steve, I know you hate it and hate everything Dave and it all sounds the same and you joke about every time you hear it or see it or whatever, but this song got me thinking about how people interact with each other on a daily basis, so I'll save the pain of listening to it and just say what I it reminded me of. For everyone else that reads this, feel free to listen to it. It's pretty awesome unless you're Steve and Andrew then it freaking sucks :)
Here's my analysis of the song, so a guy wakes up and does his regular routine: brushing his teeth, eating, etc. the same old routine day in and day out. His wife or girlfriend, significant other, is thinking that they live together and yet no nothing about each other, thinking about what they other one is thinking without ever saying a word and they become distant by the day. So the guy gets upset and goes to mommy whom helps him forget about his problems and he wishes that he was a little kid again playing under the table. Essentially the dude runs away from the problem instead of trying to work through it; he ignores the problem hoping it will just go away. Problems never just go away. So the song continues in the broader sense that people are constantly in a hurry passing by one another no time to talk or say hello or get to know one another. There's no time, no time for relationships because they are too hard and too time consuming so everyone are like ants marching, focusing only on the destination of travel, the work that needs to be done, or just themselves that they have no interest in others. That's basically the song's meaning and it's pretty interesting cuz it's true. When walking on campus I notice that I am one of those "ants marching" with out giving a care in the world about the person walking in front of me or beside me. I'm just too focused on the next destination, the next place, the next phase which reminded me of the last IV night last year when someone gave that kind of talk about how he would always look at the next phase or the next chapter in life having to get through the current one to get to the next instead of slowing down and looking at the present and what's happening now and slowing down to get to know people, opening up or whatever, and how rewarding that is. So thinking about this I started playing a game at school while walking to my classes. People walking the other direction i'll make eye contact with and if they look my way I make myself say "Hey". This is extremely out of my comfort zone but I just wanted to see what would happen if someone they didn't know actually took an interest in knowing them, granted I really don't have time to make an hour long conversation cuz I do have class to attend but I just thought it would be fun to see where that leads. Isn't that what IV's about, community, getting to know one another? Anyways, hasn't happened so far, got a lot of weird looks like "who is this kid saying hi randomly" haha, oh well gotta spice life up while walking to class.
Had a good convo with Shane the other day but one question he asked just stuck in my head, "You don't have many close friends, do you?" It was a good question to what we were talking about and it's good to remember who those true friends are, especially when they are going through some rough spots or when you are. So slow down a bit and look around, you might miss out on something good if you don't.
