To Move

Inspired by my friend Sierra

The year is Twenty Twenty Two, but the world has been around for so much longer. The world has had beings walking, slithering, swimming, and generally moving their ways through it for a long time, and it was barren for a longer time before. Beings grew, adapted, evolved, and overtime, lived. How they got here was of no consequences, because now they were here. They would do lots while they were here.

There are lots of creatures on the earth. Some walk, some slither, some swim, but all of them move in some way or another. Some being's movements are limited. Some can only grow and give back to the world that grew them. Some grow over the course of hundreds or thousands of years into tall trees and dense forests only to stay there until they wither. Some beings can do a little more. Spiders weave webs and eat mosquitos. Mosquitos drink blood and pass their bowels. Flies do similar, but you'd swear they're planning something bigger by the way they rub their hands together. These beings, who's influence is of no consequence at all, share one thing, besides being insects. They act on instinct. They live and die by their instincts. Still, though, their instincts, and furthermore intelligence, allows them to move just a little bit more. They move with the purpose of surviving, and survive they did. However, these beings did not live.

There are more beings. Beings who's purpose is not to move, but to move with purpose. The dolphin jumps from it's native waters to prove it can, and to feel the air on it's skin. The lynx hides from people to avoid confrontation, and for self preservation. A domesticated animal snuggles up to it's owner to feel love. For these beings, movement is a means to an end. As survival becomes secondary, their purpose is to feel.

Movement is special. For plants, it's growth. For insects, it is survival. For wildlife, it is to feel. There is one more being, a smarter being, who moves for more complex reasons. The human is, loosely, an animal, as most sentient beings are. Humans do what all the beings in the world around them do. They grow, survive, and feel. However, humans are different. They go about their movement-based initiatives in very different ways.

In order to feel, humans move together. They talk, they laugh, they sing and dance, weep and fight, play and run, greet and part. Humans experience life through the lens of other humans in a way no other organisms do. Yes, animals have companionship and may mate for life, but they don't love like humans love. They don't move like humans move. The human body has two hundred and six bones. Each of those bones is capable of moving to some degree. One of them is the lower jaw. It allows humans to communicate not just with body language, but with words and tongues. They can slow down their speech or speed it up, they can speak calmly or with a passion, they can use a thousand words, or just a few. Speech gives humanity an avenue to feel unlike any other beings. Of the two hundred and six bones humans have, three of them are located in the arm. They allow people to bend and outstretch their arms to far lengths at every angle, angles that grant full untethered control of the self. Humans use these two tools to do just about everything. They reach for an object and grab it with the hand connected to an arm's end. They stretch backwards to scratch a spot that won't scratch itself. They reach for a high up object, or reach close for a loved one. They hold someone dear close until the time for holding has passed, and they release as their love must wait until another day to manifest again. Humans move to feel in unique ways that all other beings cannot.

For survival, humans have systems in place which provide them with the necessary resources to live on. Instead of having to frantically move from plain to plain in-search of nourishment, they have institutions they can visit that allows them to survive. These institutions are rooted in necessity. Most institutions act independently of one another, although some are directly connected. However, despite their own independence, each institution is connected by society. Every institution, business, and industry serves a purpose in society, and one that connects them to the whole. Everyone does a little bit or a lot of bit to pay their part to society. Some do not benefit from the system, and have been wronged by the institutions they invest their lives into. Nonetheless, all beings must try to survive, so humanity continues to move forward, despite the wrongs of the system they have found themselves in.

Finally, growth. Human growth has two meanings. The first meaning refers to physical growth, ranging from the development in the womb until around the age of twenty five when the human mind is fully developed. During that time, a person will learn to walk, run, drive, speak, ride a bike, use a toilet, file taxes, and whatever else life brings their way. The second growth is mental, and it's one that never stops as long as we keep moving.

From the moment a human is born, they absorb information. This information eventually shapes them into the person they become. They learn basic things, such as language, math, history, things that are fact. They learn more personal things, such as who they want their friends to be, what foods they enjoy, what hobbies they will partake in, which passions they will devote time to. They learn from their environment, as well. They will learn about the best skate parks in town, or where to buy hotdogs. They'll learn about which high school they should really go into and which sites to do their online shopping. They'll learn which weather preferences they prefer and if they like the night or day more. They'll learn a lot. Life will teach them the good, and it will equip them for the good they can do. Life won't just teach them the good, though. Growth in anything is one step forward, and two steps back. Life will teach them about pain, fear, isolation, heartbreak, abandonment, regret, punishment, and loss. It will teach you in ways you never thought that it could, it will teach you in ways you never thought it would, and it will certainly teach you in ways you never thought it should. It will have you asking why it happened to me? Why me? Why do these things only happen to me? No matter how life teaches you, though, you can make it through. If you keep moving forward, you will make it through. How else will you survive, feel, and grow? Life will teach, but you'll learn too. You will grow, and you will grow out of whatever life is teaching you. You will find what works for you, and you'll reach the max growth you think you can get to, and then you'll grow a little more. You'll keep moving and growing until you're the amazing person you're meant to be, no matter how many long years of life it takes. You'll grow and look back, proud of how far you've come. You'll see who you were and feel regretful, but satisfied, because you knew it was part of your own growth. You will be a good person.

Life hasn't just taught you, though. You are a person, but many people inhabit this world. Everyone in life experiences the same, just in different ways. Every human turned person has been taught by life, all in a way that makes them themselves. The cashier at the grocery store is a person who's lived a large life. The man with the shaggy beard walking by on the street, he too has had a life. The J heart S carved into the picnic bench, why, they've both lived a full life. Every single person around you has grown so much, and they will continue to with every day, doing what they believe works for them. Some have learnt different lessons then others, so remember to ask yourself where life has taken them, and remember we are all people when it comes down to it. Some of us just have a little more growing to do.

The year is Twenty Twenty Two, and we all, all as in everything, have a lot more moving left. So keep moving, and never question where you move to, because everything moves you closer to the best version of yourself.