The Last Sapien | the next degree

The Next Degree of Separation | It is never easy to grow old, yes you can do it gracefully, but you have to have the right mindset to do so, how many actually have it? These days most or all elderly people get to the finish line alone, no cheers, no support beside the medics that take their vitals until one is giving in. Such loneliness, as if being old doesn't make it lonely enough, is draining just thinking of it. Corona patient # 3 somewhere had a name had a life for the past 80 years, he probably had a family, neighbors he helped, friends he grew up with, people he intended to meet and upcoming birthday to celebrate 81. Nothing but the quite and peaceful of the finish line with the monitor signaling end of life.

Like in Paul Auster's journeys into the mega space of loneliness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULbOgIfcP9A#action=share you read through his works and with each character, regardless of the people they are surrounded with, slowly but surely getting emptied from within to a complete emotional vacuum, almost suffocating from lack of a single soul, muse, spirit in need for a gasp of hope. As brilliant as the writing is and the fact that you can get yourself into this state of suffocation - feeling the moment - for the people whom die alone it is yet another level of emptiness.

The term Degree of Separation is describing how close you are to a total stranger. If you have a network of fifty people and you speak an idea to all fifty of them, where they would each talk to their fifty friends the idea would get to the rest of the world in six iterations. In a similar manner when you look at your professional network - you always look whom could be closer to the hiring manager to place a good word for you - as people are 'numbered' for you for the ease of access.

If I throw the term degree of separation onto Paul Auster's playing arena , where personal space is three feet and social distance pushes us to double the distance - how far the people at the finish line feel from their next closest person - where miles away is probably just a tiny segment.

We easily fall into measurable concepts and protect them religiously as the new right thing to do. We do not ask ourselves too many questions, but we gradually start to feel uncomfortable when people enter the growing circle around us, we cannot control it, as we program our brains to it.

When 2020 brings senses back to our life - it would call for a lot of re-programming of our habits to get us closer, not just in physical space but to care more about the ones that we have let our life slip them away from our focus and mind, we should reach out and pull closer the ones as far as they are and make sure that before they reach their last gasp of hope, you could be at reach saving them from suffocation.

Now breath . . .