Parallel lives

Pt. 1

He thought of several people whose lives run parallel and close together but at different speeds, and wondered in what circumstances some of them would overtake and survive others. 

Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak

 

rio de gente – people river por z e n g a

 

It makes you wonder. You meet so many people during your life and some may or not have an impact on you, that you know of that is. We have no idea if someone we know today will make our life turn upside down or if we will have that kind of impact on someone else’s life. You bump into someone in the street, will you ever see him or her again? The five seconds that were «wasted» by bumping into that person will have an effect on whatever you’ll do the second after that. Maybe you’ll avoid an accident, maybe you’ll end up meeting someone else, someone that will become your best friend, your enemy, your lover… What will happen to the person you left behind? What effect will you have on him or her? We just have no idea what life will throw at us, even during the next second. At least I don’t.

 

I’ve struggled with this idea for several years. The power people have on my life and the power I have on theirs, willingly or not. I think it’s mind-blowing. One word, one action may throw my whole existence into an unknown dimension and it was because of YOU. But, I know that for you to have that power I would have to allow it. Yet again, sometimes, it’s just inevitable. When you come to think of it, maybe I already know the person who will change my point of views or even, ugh, my core. Have I done that to anyone? Have I struck a cord in you and changed you in some way? Will I ever do that? SHOULD I LONG FOR THAT?

 

I walk in the streets and see so many people. I drive in this big and noisy city. What will be of the people I encounter? Will I ever know of them again? Where are they going and what do they plan on doing? Pretty sure I’ve even exchanged glances with a burglar. It’s true that only oneself is responsible for my life’s actions, but so many COULD have a say in it. Decisions are made by me but, but I choose based upon the options you have put before me. The same applies to you.

 

Another thing, in life I will survive many people and many will survive me. My physical being will leave this earth and the only thing that has a chance of remaining is my memory. That is, if my legacy is worthy enough to be thought of. Slowly, but surely, friends and family will also cease to exist and your memory will too. There will come a day when no one will remember you or even know that you existed. It’s like nothing ever happened. This makes me ponder.

 

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Pt. 2

I just finished reading Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak and experienced different moments of interest while reading it. This is the third Russian author I have read and have seen that their writings are filled with emotion and drama. Passion and negativism rule their life. Characters are not able to see life in a practical way, they always put so much emotion into life that it ends up sucking all the energy out of them. 

Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for this book, apparently for political reasons. This isn’t the best book I’ve read by a Nobel Laureate but, it must be said that the poems found in the last part of the book surpass by much the story told in prose. They have incredible depth and help understand Zhivago’s torments a little better. 

I do recommend this book because the description of human emotion is very precise but, can bore you from time to time. I believe that Russian literature takes you through so many roads and makes the reader go so many places so at the end you will be left with a very powerful message. What I got by reading this book made me write Pt. 1.

And there were things about them which were never to be known for certain, while others were only to await another opportunity in order to reveal themselves. 

 

Dr. Zhivago, Boris Pasternak