Perspectives, empathy and a puppet show

Time ticks away, old calendars are discarded as I indulge in deliberate contemplation for the last time this year.

I'm obsessed with calendars and clocks. As days pass and time ticks away, my heart is filled with either anticipation or dread. As I turn the page of the calendar for the last time this year, I can't help but siphon certain thoughts and memories and dip my head into the pensieve.

From a third-person POV, are our lives as significant as we imagine them to be? Conversely, are lives of other people so grandiose and perfect as we infer from social media or real life as distant observers? I've been thinking about that particular concept for a while. Books teach us empathy, the very human (yet not very commonly found in human beings) ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes temporarily. The whole 'broadening your horizons' thing really comes down to exploring different perspectives. Again, very few people would make efforts to explore beyond the conventional narrative. Because let's face it, it's easy to be shallow. It's super comfortable. There's no cognitive dissonance, no unanswered questions (if any questions existed at all in the first place) and no moral obligation to decipher petty mysteries.

Whether you're a so-called posh intellectual or a chill guy, you do have a perspective on everything. Maybe you can't put them into words eloquently, maybe you're confused about certain technicalities, maybe you've got no clue or maybe you don't care at all. Still, it matters. It shapes how you think, feel and react.

You see what you expect to see. The curtains of the puppet show will close one day, and you'll be left wondering if any of it was real. At one point you'll realise that it doesn't even matter anymore — because it's too late.