I do my best thinking in the shower. I guess it’s that one
moment during the day I am truly free to think without even the smallest
distraction. The problem is, the shower is also the one place I have no method
of capturing any passing glimmers of brilliance. I can’t begin to tell you of
all the beginnings of great pieces of music or potential epic novels that have
circled down my drain over the years. But today’s post isn’t about thinking in
the shower – rather about a thought I had today and actually took the time to
jot down for later use.
Today I read an article about a space phenomenon that led me
to develop in my head a quick high-level story arc. I could envision my saga
being spread out over the span of multiple volumes featuring generations of
characters and taking place over several centuries – life, love, determination,
death, heroism and courage. Now I know I’m being a bit vague here as there is
the potential I could one day sit down, put pencil to paper and get this epic
yarn out of my dreams and into my car and into your sweaty little hands
in the form of a book (or other new-fangled paperless reading device). But the
scale of this story brought about another thought I actually would like to
share: I wonder if humanity could muster
the vision and maintain the support to accomplish something greater than any
individual person.
Here’s where I’m going with this: Those oft-cited most
important accomplishments in human history – like the pyramids or the Great
Wall of China – took lifetimes to build. One person has an idea to build
something. This idea is maintained by a series of other people as a motivator
and morale builder for leading a society of non-workers. The actual “work” is
done on the backs of slave labor which is easy for non-workers to then support
for extended periods – even generations. Eventually it becomes an assumption
that the work must continue and the job will be completed, hence the burden of
maintaining the momentum becomes simpler. When you are born with a project
underway, it is all the more difficult to make the leap to questioning why the
project was even started; why it is continuing.
The story I came up with today dabbles in this idea of the
need for a group of people to inspire the current (or slightly future) Human Race
to come together and begin a project that will take multiple
generations/lifetimes to achieve. Those that start the project will never see
it come to fruition. Neither will their children. But it requires resources,
input and support from all members of humanity to achieve. With the culture of immediacy we live in today
could you imagine us being able to transcend politics, transcend the instant
gratification to embark on a project that will require global sacrifice? Where those making that sacrifice today may not
live to witness tangible progress on said project?
I don’t have the answers. Maybe they’ll come to me in the shower
sometime.
