To You, in 2000 Years

I was hit with a thought and I wanted to share it. 

Our thoughts are all our own. They exist entirely within our minds, and while emotions may bubble to the surface and we can share what we think, the abstract reality of our experience is inherently unknowable to anyone but ourselves. That's part of the human condition. Language arose from this. Our desire (and need) to communicate brought us closer, and formed the world we live in today. We're in an era of global connectivity unknown in eras passed, where we can talk to anyone from virtually anywhere whenever we want with a simple call, text, or post. Cultural divides, while still present, are shifting apart. But those thoughts -- our inner selves -- are still kept to the individual. 

That's pretty poignant, I think. Imagine, for a moment, Ancient Greece. Two people -- siblings, friends, partners, what have you; have met one another out on the grass during a starry night. They lie down together and look up at the stars, pointing out constellations, laughing about things they witnessed throughout the day. And each of them, despite the connection they share, can only relay so much of their inner thoughts to one another. The formless feelings and shaped perspective they experience is one of their own. 

And they're gone. They've long passed. Greece's rule ended well over two thousand years ago, and the thoughts and feelings of those individuals looking up at the stars are gone. The people they knew and loved are gone, and have been gone for many, many lifetimes since. The bond they shared -- the bond only they knew and only they felt, is known by no one.

Isn't that hard to comprehend? We sit around and worry about our lives now, but will our accomplishments matter in two thousand years? When you lie down beneath the stars with your significant other, your sibling, your parent or friend -- will the moment you share live on? 

In a way, it can.

These thoughts and feelings are kept alive with our art. Yes, we may not be able to share minds, but we can share the things we create with them. The pottery, mosaics, architecture, and writings of Ancient Greece are still around today. Things they conceived, things they imbued with their thoughts and feelings survive. 

But what if these people didn't make any art? What if these two people were farmers, and worked only in the fields, never to transcribe their thoughts or sculpt their creations? Well, then the things they shared truly are gone. History is recorded by those who've won, but even then, the common folk under their rule are only that. Common folk. They live, they work, and they pass. Their selves have returned to the soil, a place destined for all of us one day. But their lives mattered then. The market needed fruit, the family needed food. Even if they didn't leave a mark to last us generations, they left a mark to last a lifetime.

So I ask -- where will you be in two thousand years?