The dramas and eccentricities of daily life that people find so fascinating, quite frankly, aren’t that significant. The earth isn’t going to plummet off of its axis every time a car runs out of gas; the sky isn’t going to shrivel up and implode all because some person happened to have sex (heaven forbid!) with her boyfriend. Whether I’m speaking in generalities or specifics, it’s all the same. Your grandparents were teenagers once…does it nurture your passions to know just whom was going out with whom sixty…seventy years ago? Does it strike you as important to have an extensive knowledge base on who was labeled what? But those details were so important, so essential to the life of Emmaline McHale of Milwaukee, Wisconsin or Ted Smith of Albany, New York that it was the very center of their own adolescent world. Yet it has no significance to us, living here today, living now! And still, we live our daily lives as if we are the most important beings to ever grace this earth. That every minute detail in our own lives is worthy of a colossal spectacle; while other’s worries hold less meaning because they are not in the center of our own cerebral world. Such is human nature, I suppose. But just a few thoughts. When approaching old age, as you begin to see that life moves on even without you, does it give a sense of insignificance? Is it terribly harsh to come to the realization that half your life was spent worrying over something that wouldn’t matter in the long run? But to put it that simply is somewhat demeaning people’s existence all together. I am not intending to sound pessimistic, quite the contrary. I believe in experiencing and talking about and indulging in such ‘insignificant acts’ (to a certain, altruistic extent)—such as smelling the flowers or going for a walk or talking with a friend. But I suppose whatever we may do- whomever we may associate with, wherever we may go- will always seem insignificant to someone, somewhere. So it should not matter what others find inconsequential or trivial, because whatever we are doing IS consequential and important. Simply because WE are doing it, and because it FEELS essential to us in the moment. As long as one does not look too far inward into their own self, we all should come out fine even with a little indulgence once and a while. It's all about the happy medium.