Meditation 10/10/09: The People Who Come and Go In Your Lifetime

[Ken Cheng]

I've been living for thirty-seven years. That's not terribly old by today's standards, but a long time has gone by. Richard Nixon was President of the United States when I was born, all four Beatles and Elvis Presley were still alive, the Vietnam War wasn't over yet, and the United States had not launched its first space shuttle mission.

During those thirty-seven years, many people have come and gone in my life: grandparents and other older relatives, friends, schoolmates, teachers, prominent historical figures and celebrities I've never met, etc.

It's amazing to reflect upon the large numbers of people you meet during a lifetime, and how often, they are an important part of your daily life for years and years, and then leave your life through various circumstances and are never heard from again. Think back to people you went to school with: some of them were close friends, undoubtedly, whom you saw day after day, year after year. Then, everybody graduates and goes on to separate lives...often never again seeing or speaking to people with whom they had spent many days together over the course of years.

Very close friends and relatives aside, many of the people I was close to ten years ago are no longer a part of my life (or I, of theirs). This is even more the case for people I knew twenty years ago...or thirty. It's like they never existed, and yet you remember some of them and wonder how people drift apart over the course of a lifetime. I'm quite convinced that twenty years from now, if I'm still living, the people with whom I associate daily will be people I'm not even acquainted with now, while most of the people I associate with daily today will have gone on to fates unknown to me.

[wkeej]

You are right, Ken. Life continues. And I have lived longer than you.

[Ken Cheng]

You are right, Ken. Life continues. And I have lived longer than you.

You're one of the very few here who are.

It even applies to commercial enterprises and items of everyday technology in our lives.

Things common today, but unknown twenty years ago: the Internet (as we now know it), DVDs, MP3s, ubiquitous cell phones, Twitter, digital television

Things common twenty years ago, but rarely seen today: rotary telephones, cassette tapes, vinyl records, manual typewriters, black and white TVs, public telephone booths

Commercial enterprises no longer in business: Montgomery Ward, Zodys, Fedco, Gemco, Alpha Beta Supermarkets, Hughes Supermarkets, Pioneer Fried Chicken, Great Western Bank, Home Savings Bank

Commercial enterprises ubiquitous today, but unknown twenty years ago: Starbucks Coffee, Borders, Amazon, E-Bay, Google, Yahoo

What a different world it is from the one I grew up in.

I sometimes find myself reading very old news articles (which are now historical documents) and looking at very old photographs or video footage just to confirm that the past I remember isn't just some kind of illusion.

[Guo Xiang]

Ken is a very sentimental person. Just hope you are not too caught up in this.

[wkeej]

I can name one person who is no longer here in spcnet = green destiny. Doesn't mean the person is dead!

[jiang bao]

WIth the internet, it's now easier to stay in touch. Particularly with FB.

[sniffles]

You're one of the very few here who are.

It even applies to commercial enterprises and items of everyday technology in our lives.

Things common today, but unknown twenty years ago: the Internet (as we now know it), DVDs, MP3s, ubiquitous cell phones, Twitter, digital television

Things common twenty years ago, but rarely seen today: rotary telephones, cassette tapes, vinyl records, manual typewriters, black and white TVs, public telephone booths

Commercial enterprises no longer in business: Montgomery Ward, Zodys, Fedco, Gemco, Alpha Beta Supermarkets, Hughes Supermarkets, Pioneer Fried Chicken, Great Western Bank, Home Savings Bank

Commercial enterprises ubiquitous today, but unknown twenty years ago: Starbucks Coffee, Borders, Amazon, E-Bay, Google, Yahoo

What a different world it is from the one I grew up in.

I sometimes find myself reading very old news articles (which are now historical documents) and looking at very old photographs or video footage just to confirm that the past I remember isn't just some kind of illusion.

I occasionally have similar thoughts, Ken. Here I sit at a PC, and in my daily occupation I am in fact a computer programmer. But when I was in elementary school, computers were enormous, room-size devices that were programmed using punch cards and were only in use by organizations such as the US Census Bureau. Hardly anyone even imagined the ability to have a personal computer that one could carry in one's pocket (which is essentially what my smartphone is).

Then I look back at my mother's life. She was born in 1925, just before the Great Depression. As a child, her home didn't have indoor plumbing or electricity. Her family owned a buggy as well as a Model T Ford and she sometimes rode a horse to school. She grew up to see the existence of microwave ovens, videocassette recorders, and the space shuttle. I wonder what she would have thought of the proliferation of cell phones, DVD players, and personal computers (she died in 1986, when PCs were still too expensive for the average person). She was a court official in an office in a small town where all the record-keeping was still handwritten in huge docket books. I remember as a teen in the 70s thinking that their photocopier was "high tech".

[wkeej]

I wonder what it will be like in another 20 years. going to the moon is normal?

[darkcser]

I sometimes find myself reminiscing about the 80's when I first came to the U.S., and how life was back then. Back in those days we were expecting alternative energy, green homes and flying cars come 2000...

We would probably see the technological singularity before regular travel to the moon unless the moon has something far more useful than water.

It's going to be a cyberpunk future after all... except for the superhumanly strong cybernetic limbs... then again exo-skeletons and robotic pack animals are in the prototype stage...

[milKBoi]

Nice post Ken Cheng!
Btw whoa thinking of it i have had this account for more than 6yrs.
Aish..times fly so quick except when studying.

[Crazy8]

hence they invited facebook, twitter, facebook and many other for you to communicate with them

[Extremer88]

The people who come and go in my life have been a lot. It's probably part and parcel of life. Some people just change (living habits, change jobs, graduate, or interests), and if there's no common link with them - the relationship will be over.

That's where friendship comes in. If you want to stay relevant and close with people whom you like, you would have to take the initiative and stay in contact with them.

[jiang bao]

I wonder what it will be like in another 20 years. going to the moon is normal?

Doubtful. We have more important things to worry about than to waste time space traveling.

[Ken Cheng]

One thing about getting older: I think as one gets older, each loss of someone close hits harder than it did when one was younger. I think it's because the list of people that are no longer around has gotten longer.

[kidd]

You are right, Ken. Life continues. And I have lived longer than you.

Whoa. I thought you are still a student or at most in your mid 20s.

[mi do ri]

I often reflect on this topic and I think the reason why people who I used to be close with are distant now is because of lack of common interests. I think that once high school ends, if you or the others don't mutually try to stay as friends or make time for each other then that is it for this lifetime. But there's always an exception because decades from now, you can run into those people again and just somehow re-connect like you once have. As for me, I try to live in the moment but still hold on to whatever my fond memories of the past may be.

[wkeej]

The other day I read an interesting article. Someone staged his own funeral (he is not dead) to have a feel of his "popularity". About 200 people turned up.

[mi do ri]

The other day I read an interesting article. Someone staged his own funeral (he is not dead) to have a feel of his "popularity". About 200 people turned up.

This makes me wonder how many people are going to show up at his actual funeral.

[Ren Ying Ying]

I wonder what it will be like in another 20 years. going to the moon is normal?

I feel that the change in the last 10 years (2001-2011) isn't as drastic as it was in the previous 10 years (1991-2001). Or perhaps it was just I who changed more in those years.

[wkeej]

This makes me wonder how many people are going to show up at his actual funeral.

Yes, that is a very good question. Everyone who went to his "staged" funeral thought that he was "dead".