You are Very Special!

Continuing to work at my writing, research, and what have you. I have sent sections of my fourth chapter to some of my professors and have gotten the reply (from one) that I need to condense things a bit. Perhaps I have found myself getting a little to focused on the particulars.

Think about this. We like to think that we are very important, that this time is important (reference the Goonies). We like to think that the particulars we are living in are special. We like to think this and so does everyone who came before us and everyone who will come after. Yet we are only a part of a story. We are a part of something bigger, and sometimes the particular details that we struggle do not matter so much when considering the bigger picture. This is what I have to try to do with my dissertation – not so much bigger picture, but more a look at what is changing over time. I need to consider how small changes are part of bigger changes and so on and so on. There will be historical anomalies, but they need to be named as just that: anomalies.

It is one thing to step back and view history in such a way, but it is another to view ourselves in such a way. It is not easy to look and see how we are changing slowly, how we are a part of a larger trend, and how we may not make a big difference in the long run. Of course I don’t mean you the reader. You are special. You are important. You are my special little guy/gal.