The Moment

Paralyzed in front of my computer by one of the most powerful songs I know, I stop and think about moments in my life. Right now is a moment, when I took a shower twenty minutes ago was a moment, and whatever I'll be doing in five hours later today will be a moment. But there are moments that transcend...something. Think of it like my second-layer idea in what I just blogged. There is a second level of moments; a level that deserves distinction from the first. So, we'll call it The Moment. In Now I Can Die in Peace, Bill Simmons capitalizes phrases like Those Games, That Guy, and The Moment, giving them greater significance than ordinary games, guys, and moments.

What's special about these Moments is that they come to define us, or shape us, in a certain way, for the rest of our lives. I believe that in order to get to this exact point in my life, with everything I know, I had to have taken this path - if one thing happened differently, I wouldn't be exactly the same person I am right now. If I took a shower right when I woke up instead of twenty minutes ago, I would be a different person. Probably an insignificant amount, but different nonetheless. However, if A Moment happened under different circumstances, who I am might be completely different. I could have stayed in my room at school instead of going to Jeff Cooney's memorial service, and I wouldn't have heard something that's stuck with me for almost a year now. I could have decided not to go to the 9/11 ten year anniversary service at the O'Hara quad, and I wouldn't fully understand that 9/12 is going to happen, and that's what we should focus on. I wouldn't have the candle holder with melted wax on it that I still have today.

What comes with These Moments is a "hunh" moment. "Hunh," which I don't think I've explained here before, is a mere acknowledgement, a filler for processing something that just happened. Both of the examples of Moments I had also had a "hunh" moment. At the memorial service in the Sem chapel for Jeff Cooney, Father Cregan talked about his journey in life. Said the word probably a dozen times in the hour we were there. "The Journey" just so happens to be my favorite poem of all-time. At the 9/11 service, I remember looking up into the sky, just to see its vastness above all of us, and I saw a plane flying off into the distance. Even typing that now and remembering seeing it happen, I chuckle out a "hunh." These Moments, how they play out, and what happens during them that is significant to only you, are what define our lives, and how we lead them. The experience we get from Moments is omnipresent within us. We might not always be consciously aware of its existence, but its presence will be there, no matter what. It carries a power with it, a power that only you can feel.

Think about your Moments. Think about something that made you stop and think how everything is connected. How some life force might be out there in the universe, pushing us deeper and deeper into the world. These Moments not only define our lives, and set the stage for how we go about living them, but they save us. They save our lives.