From thirty thousand feet most borders disappear and it’s just land. A lot of lines are drawn by people, not nature.
REFLECTION
WHAT THIS MEANS
From high enough up the land runs continuous, and the divisions you were taught as facts are nowhere to be seen. Rivers and mountains show up. The lines do not, because people drew them, often recently. That does not make them unimportant, since they decide a great deal about how lives go, but it does make them decisions rather than features.
Look at a satellite view of somewhere you think of as foreign and see how little marks the edge. Then be careful this week with any sentence that sorts people into sides.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Which division around you exists only because people drew it?
MORE IN MEANING & PERSPECTIVE
- Look at an old team photo in ten years. You’ll care less about the record and more about where everyone ended up.
- You live within shouting distance of dozens of people whose names you don’t know. That’s a lot of untapped good.
- At twenty you usually have more time than money. Spend the time like it’s the rich part, because it is.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.