Somebody Else

Travelling down the outstretched highway I gazed out my window into the windows of cars passing by. A man, alone, with a perplexed look on his face. A man and woman with a couple of kids, laughing. A group of older teens bopping their heads to music I couldn't hear. And a woman, wiping her face from streaming tears, as we pass yet another vehicle on our long way home.

At seven years old the 18 hour road trips from New Brunswick to Ontario were a common event for our family. The long drive provided many pensive moments for me, though; contemplating the universe and the dynamics of people. My favourite thing to think about was that to everybody else I was just “somebody else”. Every person had their own world in which I didn't exist and therefore to them I was just “somebody”. Every person is living every single moment at the same time as me, but in their own life. Consumed in their personal thoughts, challenges, accomplishments, and families every person that passed us in every vehicle had a story and life of their own that I had no idea about. Shaping, creating, growing, learning, teaching, losing, and/or winning in the emotional roller-coaster that is their existence. Just as I sat there gazing out the window, someone else has their own life just like I do but to them I am just “somebody else”.

“Are they thinking about this too?” I pondered to myself, “what is their biggest problem right now? What are they thinking about? How do they think about things?” as every new face came into sight. I kept quiet with my thoughts while creating stories and imagining what is is they could possibly be experiencing right then. Fantasizing about what it might be like to be in their minds just for a moment to see what makes them act the way they act. Fascinated by this idea at age seven it only began to grow, evolve, and interest me more and more - integrating itself into more daily situations like how I create connections and relationships.

As I grew up and developed the concept never left me and I carry it forward with who I am today. Knowing that we each have an individual set of experiences that have shaped us and taught us the lessons that we later turn in to actions. I focus heavily on “why” we do things which has created how I analyze situations, how I approach people, and how I listen to others. I haven't lived the thoughts, challenges, and accomplishments of any other person. Yet, having this mindset causes me to remove myself, as best I can, from how I think and try to place myself in another's accumulated experiences.

And each human on earth has their own world and we'll never know what it is like to see it from another's perspective. But I always try, as best as I can, to note that as “somebody else” they are living a different life and if I can understand to my utmost ability what “somebody else” is going through, then I will have a clearer perception of a greater reality.