The other day I read this article online – some daytime talk show type lamentation (the sick word of the day) about how men just don’t change or some junk like that. I dunno. I don’t think I even made it more than a paragraph in.
But it got me thinking about the ways we really DO change; that so few seem to consider at all…
Because, you ARE different…
…of course. Whether you know it. Whether you admit it.
Different, obviously, in the figurative sense; in that every day you learn, and see, and experience new things. Every day you improve or decline your self, and are made new as a result of the behaviors you adopt, and the beliefs you embrace, and ALL the shit that happens around you and to you.
We all change. All things change.
But you are different also in another sense…
Literally.
Because nobody lasts a day.
No(body) lasts a day.
No BODY lasts a day.
I mean, OBVIOUSLY. They get older, of course. And they grey, and wrinkle, and sag (some more than others, suckers).
But that’s not what I’m talking about, really. I’m not talking about aging at all.
I’m talking about the fact that they have literally CHANGED BODIES.
And you have too…
Your body is a collection of countless trillions of cells (I’m not 100% on the exact, though, so go ahead and take a few minutes to count).
These cells – like lives – are born and die. As you live, sleep, and breathe, some will be created, and others destroyed – by the body itself, by disease, or through their own natural decay. Like passengers on the metaphorical ship that is your body, the cells that constitute your body will be in a constant state of change.
Over the course of your life, then, EVERY cell of your body will have died and been replaced; every passenger lost as another’s found.
What this means, though, is that not only are the passengers changed, but the ship itself; not only the cells of your body, but your body itself.
Entirely. Completely. A whole new freaking body.
Not all at once, of course. But over the course of your life…you will have COMPLETELY changed bodies.
Several times. Many times. Every 7 years in fact.
Not a single cell that made you upon birth, then, will go with you in death. And nothing of you that you can now see or touch will be there but 7 years from now.
You might live a long life, then. But your body won’t.
You might feel healthy and fine, then. But your body’s dying right now.
You might see 80 more years. But your body won’t last 7 more.
It means the hand you scroll this webpage with isn’t your FIRST hand. And the eyes you scan this screen with aren’t your FIRST eyes. And the ass you sit on, and the feet you stand on are NOT your first of either.
All have changed. All have died. All have been replaced – no different than if your current were removed right now and a donor given to replace them.
No part of you will stay with you.
None of You will remain.
And all you see now is nothing of what you once had.
And so what’s amazing is this…
…that the body you call your own now – that you wash and clean and care for, that you protect and fret and hate even, that you are inevitably – in SOME way – SO attached to and SO believe to be who you are – yourself – has not been so for long. And will NOT remain so much longer.
When you look at an old photo, then, it isn’t just: “Ah damn. Those were the days. Sure was great fitting into THOSE pants.” It’s…”Damn. I remember that body. Sure miss living in THAT corpse.”
That person in that photo is an entirely different body of cells. No different than the dude or lady you may be sitting near now or standing near now. An entirely different person.
We just don’t notice it. We just don’t notice the countless ways we change everyday, so subtle they are and so constantly they come.
So yeah, men do change. We all do. And it’s pretty freaking neat.
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