![[Literae]](/images/literae.jpg)
poetry, prose, and other strings of words · 1993 - 2003
Rite of Passage
Number 144
February 25, 2000
Life's triumphs, defeats—sadnesses, joys—often
seem so trivial when they're seen and heard
two-dimensionally, or even secondhand and directly.
And while we learn from the experiences of others,
while we can assimilate some of their lessons into
our own beings, to each of us is given tests and
affirmations that, while never fully unique to
ourselves, stir a personal feeling stronger than
what many would think themselves capable of.
These often come as quite a surprise to
me—challenges like the experience of entering into
the "real" world for the first time out of college.
The world where your actions, your achievements,
are not simply some recordings on paper or in
digital—but are deciding factors in the fates of
others. Maybe nothing so dramatic as direct control
over life and death, but actions—small and yet of
vital importance—that ultimately help decide how
well of one's fellow men and women are, how well
they eat and how good are their children's clothes.
Society does its best to try to warn us, but we
seem to neglect these warnings. Perhaps the
warnings come too early on, when we ignore them for
the inability to see the road ahead. Though rites
of passage be different through time and space, we
must all, at the appointed time, pass through them.