Open view

I had an odd feeling looking across at this view. The view never really changes except for the weather. It struck me that while so much has changed for me. So much has happened. So much has been lost. Dreams have been extinguished. I guess they continue to be extinguished. Yet look at this view and the world stays the same. What happened to me is as significant to the world as a single butterfly flapping or not flapping its wings.

It was such a sobering thought. Suddenly felt alone. Isolated. Insignificant. Do I matter.

But I guess there is two ways to take this. I could just accept this. Doesn’t really matter if I just plod on for the rest of my life. OR. Being insignificant doesn’t stop the butterfly flying. Ok I’m insignificant but I can still fly. Still grow old disgracefully. As it doesn’t really matter so might as well try to push that boat out. Do some of that living. See what else is out there.

The second approach does sound way better to me….

65 thoughts on “Butterfly”

  1. What one thinks as we walk through this life and looking at that sight, I can see why it makes you stop and enjoy and ponder many thoughts just know that yes, you do matter and yes live but just don’t live. Laugh and smile and dance on off the rainy cloudy days that enter your thoughts. ❤️

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  2. Yes, the second approach sounds way better. Out of billions of people alive and dead, perhaps a few thousand mattered in a way that their lives or death had a worldwide impact. The rest of us live in our own circle of friends and family and just matter to them. Live up your dreams.

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  4. Yet. A butterfly is not insignificant. While less considered than the bee, a butterfly is also a pollinator. Moving from flower to flower seeking sustenance and pollinating all the while. As people, if we are in position to move about freely, we do touch others and live more readily. Those who are still in any form of set aside, closed away, lock down, those who reach out through creative endeavors such as writing, still touch lives. The words used can encourage, can inspire, can help another reach understanding that even through suffering, even through the silence, the solitude. A butterfly, no matter its markings, is beautiful. It brings a moment of joy to the one watching its flight and feed dance. Such is the individual, doing all they can, to survive.

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  8. I understand these feelings so well. I ask myself the same things. But, remember, my friend, there is One who sees every butterfly and whether their wings flap or not. He sees you and sees me and everyone else. Keep living, keep moving. He has a purpose and a plan.

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  9. Those kinds of thoughts always blow my mind..the eternity of space and time and how none of us matter a damn. Except that we do, be it ever so briefly. It is up to us to make our nano second count.

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      1. I know ‘locked in’ folk who smile and make my day, turning it around and making the furrows on my face smooth out and relax. Even some who have gone, just thinking of their sweet disposition does the same. This is their legacy to me, knowing them and them being a small part of my life, enriching it and I would hope that I enriched theirs. Sometimes we smile, other times we rely on the memory of it and perhaps during the pandemic seeing a smile in the turn of the head and the eyes twinkling and slow blinking (my cat taught me that one).

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  10. I don’t think that we are insignificant. Indeed, I believe that each in our own way contribute to someone’s life, and that is especially true for you as a blogger. Your posts reveals to us your amazing love for your son and how much you loved his mother. You remind us each day that we can outlive the grief that threatens to destroy us when we lose a dear one, particularly the heart that beat in time with ours. You help us to realize that good days and bad days are the material of life, and, most important,y, each of us is the world to someone who needs us in their lives, and that may be people we don’t even know their names. Certainly, for your son, you are his world, the person that fights his battles with school officals, the one who stays in isolation with him, even thugh you long to run along paths again, and the one person whose love sustains him in his loss of a mother. Count the ways your presence means to him, and then know you will never be insignificant. None of us are insignificant, and the world would be less if we had never entered it. We contribute, even when it seems we don’t matter, with every smile, every laugh, even every tear. You make a difference, truly, to me, in your blogging, and I am thankful that you decided to share your life with us, as it allows us to know that we are not alone in our struggles, and though our griefs may be different, it is just good to read some silliness like you inability to cook, that reminds us that we can move forward. Thank you.

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  12. I have similar feelings when I find myself looking at my surrounding, some special trees that have been there for so many years or even since I can remember, or the mountains. And I too think that so much is changing in this world, people come and go, day and night, babies are born and become adults, tragedies and beautiful things happen, but those mountains and trees are still there. It actually always gives me such a deep sense of peace. Because the core of life will never change. Even we may change on the outside and vanish but our core, that what this body makes a person, will always be there, regardless of space or time. In those moments, I am one with what is.

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  14. I want to print that photo and hang it on my wall… stunning!

    It’s easy to look at the vastness of the landscape, the stars in the sky, and feel very small. I like to think of myself as a stone, dropping into the pool of life. Sometimes a gentle plunk that doesn’t make much disturbance, sometimes a cannonball that sends ripples everywhere. We don’t really know how our actions touch other lives.

    Keep doing the cannonball splash! The ripples come back when they hit another object, right? It’s Sciencey Stuff 🤓💌💌💌

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  15. You are definitely not insignificant, and nobody knows for certain if a dream is extinguished until we’ve lived the entirety of our lives. Unless you’re referring to old dreams that the door was closed upon. Some doors definitely can’t be opened again. But new doors can still lead to wonderful things. Keep dreaming. And never ever think of yourself as insignificant. I doubt Hawklad and those who know and love you feel that way. You make an impact and you have a place in this world that’s important. Don’t forget it, or I might have to leave you another long comment to smarten you up. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣

    Stay out of the rain Superdad. ❤

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  17. You are definitely not insignificant! Even the Mosquitoes and maggots provide food for others … Okay, that sounded better in my head, lol. You are most definitely significant to your hooman son and fur son! I always have “Yeah” moment when I see the quote “Don’t drink and drive, your dog wont understand why you never came home”. It’s so sad, but so like “Yeah!”

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  19. You have plenty to live for my friend – life is shitty at times. You have a remarkable writing talent – l keep telling you this, but you need to take some of that so called insignificance of yours and write a damn book 🙂

    You’ll probably end up writing a bestseller …. ‘fifty shades of green or something’ 🙂

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  20. I like the second viewpoint. We all make a difference, whether it’s to one or many. And all differences are equally important. Xxx

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