Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The Artifice of Permanence

This morning I came across an article full of pictures which spoke to my soul.  ( The 33 most beautiful abandoned places in the world )

I've been thinking about permanence lately.  What, in my life, will stand the test of time?  What will my children look at when I am gone to help them remember who I was?

I already know that my place will not stand.  I've moved way too much to put any stock in any structure, I've seen too many places in my rear view mirror.  At times in my life this has made me very sad, but I realized, as a child, that leaving a place meant there was a new place, a new group of people, a new adventure in store.  And then, I've been blessed to live in a time where technology has made it possible to carry the people you knew with you your whole life long, if you've a mind to.

These pictures are beautiful, and eerie.  They bring to mind someone else's life.  Other people, just like you and I, walked here, hummed while they went, worked at a life's passion, flirted or argued, touched the things of this place.  Then one day, that all stopped.


Picture #22 The Russian Military Rocket Factory was the inspiration this morning...can't you just feel the echoing emptiness of the sound of the last man's boots walking through and locking the door.  Feel his emotion, looking back over his shoulder at this place...this PERMANENT place...that could've once held the reverberation of thousands...and now forsaken. 

My life is like that sometimes.  Echoing, lonely.  And yet, unlike these fallen monuments, I don't even consider permanence.  Even in these tributes to human ingenuity, some of them spectacular feats of intelligence or creativity, we see that nothing physical on this earth lasts.  Time will change everything if we live long enough.  Those changes will become the new adventure and in time the other places we went, the other absolutes in our lives, will be nothing more than a memory, softened to beautiful by time.

See ya around...


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