FOUND

Every end is a new beginning. I think I've said that before--maybe in a dream, maybe in another life.

And it's only at these junctures, where an ending fades to the bright light of a beginning, that we can look back, encapsulate, and ask the ultimate question: "Does any of this matter?"

Still, after all these years, it's a matter of perspective and faith. Just because we all end up going to the same place doesn't mean the path we choose to get there is unimportant. The only certain destination is death; best not to make the journey too direct; better to have all sorts of surprise plot twists, tangents, and even parallels.

The stories end up becoming almost mythological, almost as if the creator(s) was/were spinning out a new theology that combines the ascending religions (destination: Heaven) with the descending religions (all praise Gaia). And with this quasi-religious set of stories, just like with other religious texts, the question of reality is less than important. Whatever this light is, we can be sure it's a metaphor. And whatever it's a metaphor for is subject to whatever religious background you hail from.

Q: So do our actions matter? A: It depends on your perspective.

For the more self-centered--narcissistic--everything matters a great deal. But if you step back from the individual and look at a whole city, the actions of each individual don't matter so much as those of the collective. It's like going from playing singles tennis to rugby. (Let's see Pete Sampras do that.) But if you take another step back and look at how that city fits into a country, then the collective actions of that city only matter insofar as they fit in with the country. So instead of being on the rugby team, you watch from the stands, understanding that this game doesn't matter to much of the world, and yet it is the whole world to those on the field. And finally, how much do our actions matter to a spy satellite. The nations of the world fit together; some will win today and lose tomorrow; others will continually struggle with scarcity.

But from the ultimate perspective, the one from which we look back as we fade into the light, none of it matters: all our journeys, all our tribulations, appear so infinitesimal, so arbitrary.

So while some pessimists say none of it matters, I argue that everything matters to someone and nothing (besides death) matters to everyone.

No one dies for no reason.
(Except maybe Nikki and Paulo. Their lives were totally without purpose.)