Friends of Friends

(frame from 1986's Castle in the Sky, song by Hospitality)

(I have an announcement I'm excited to share! It's a bit further down if you're interested. Also, the essay portion of this is really long because I have a lot to talk about. Apologies.)

It's no secret that a main goal of mine both in life and on this blog is to share ideas and thoughts that make people think. Critical thinking is a skill necessary for any sort of success in life and it's ignored all too often in the American education system today. It's important to work out that muscle so you can then be able to flex it at some point. (Note: my weight room metaphors are not the best, probably because I can count on one hand the amount of times I've worked out ever.)

This time around, I want to try something a little different that's based on an idea a friend of mine lent some time ago. Think back to three months from today's date. You were wallowing in the last days of 2013, possibly still taking final exams or figuring out how you were going to survive Christmas break (me, always). That's not the important point here, though.

Think about all of the people you've met in the last three months. Think about how friendships have changed or what life events have happened or what little events happened that you'll remember for a long time. Lastly, think about this: do you remember, at any point that isn't today or yesterday, why you were so upset at a person or a group of people?

Two really cool things have happened in the last three months (actually, the last eight days), and they weren't events that I would have expected to see in such an important light three months ago. Without being able to see God working in these situations, I can't guarantee that I would have gotten as much out of them as I currently am.

Eight days ago (it's killing me that it's been this long), I saw one of my favorite musical groups, Arcade Fire, play a live concert. I had been excited about this show from the moment my friend Matt and I bought tickets in November. The concert was at the KFC Yum! Center (the Yum! stands for Yum! Brands, an overarching category to which Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. belong) in Louisville, Kentucky, and it was going to be a great time. However, it didn't really hit me that I was going or that the concert was a real thing until the night before when I realized that at that time the next night I'd be at the bottom of a 19,000 seat arena, watching a band I've loved since eighth grade play beautiful music that sounds wonderful when both upbeat and depressed.

I never saw a live concert until I began attending UT. McMinnville's closest major city is Nashville, which is 90 minutes way. I didn't have a car in high school and most shows I really wanted to see had an age limit of 18 and over, so attending those shows was never a possibility. On the occasion that my mom and I both saw that a band we both listened to was coming to Nashville, we never cared enough to make the drive to the overpriced and overhyped Ryman Auditorium to watch them play.

Because of that, I never thought I'd see bands like Arcade Fire in person. Last Thursday evening, though, it became a reality. Matt and I rushed to the general admission area, where we had bought tickets to be on the floor (we also stood in line for nearly four hours, so hey!). Neither of us realized until about a minute after we'd arrived at the floor that we were standing front and (slightly off) center of where Win Butler would be shouting lyrics at us two hours from then.

There were several people I met in line or at the concert that I'll always hold in memory. However, the one I'll always remember most is the guy standing to my right. Tim, a junior at Purdue University, had driven the three hours from West Lafayette to Louisville (note: I originally thought this was much longer, because it feels much longer when you make the drive yourself en route to Chicago), and was visibly excited. I didn't see this guy while I was in line (although I did become friends with the guy behind me and the guy in front of Matt, so I did something right, possibly).

Until Arcade Fire came on, Tim and I discussed life, where we were from, why we listened to Arcade Fire, and why we were who we were. I discovered that Tim was an Industrial Design major (this would fall under the architecture branch at UT) and that he'd be spending his summer in San Diego, interning and living a life that we rarely get the chance to live.

Although not a Christian, Tim was someone I could see myself being really good friends with if for some reason he had chosen to attend UT. He was an incredibly nice person and one of the greatest experiences I may ever have on this planet is the time Arcade Fire made the executive decision to make "Wake Up" their eternal closing song, to which Tim and I screamed out the lyrics with what we had left, exhausted after a long day and a lot of yelling back lyrics at a man also named William (who prefers "Win") with longer hair and better style than I.

As we left, Tim and I hugged and he wished me luck on my exam. Ever since then, I've been wondering every day if we should have traded numbers, agreed to be Facebook friends, or something else of the sort to stay in communication with each other. It's bugged me for over a week now and I've been left wondering if I could have had more conversations with him at a later date, because I want to. I badly wanted to have the ability to impact his life in some form.

Then again, perhaps God brings people into our lives for a short period of time so that they can impact us. When I saw Tim, I didn't see a non-Christian Chicago sports fan that I only talked to initially because it would have been awkward if we were next to each other for five hours and didn't. I saw a guy whose heart is big (although a bit misplaced, considering he's a Blackhawks fan) and who was loving the joy of the moment he was experiencing, surely one of the most incredible experiences he'd had (it's one for me, too).

It's the same reasoning I've been having to apply to people I've met on the basketball court (shoutouts to my new friends JaDarius and Steve). Obviously, I'd like to have opportunities to impact the lives of people I meet every day, and those opportunities will come. However, I think God's teaching me a lesson by having people like Tim teach me things. 

A big theme recently for me has been learning to live in the moment, because I sometimes get lost in the idea of waiting for the future to come. If I don't pay attention to what's happening in front of me, I'm losing valuable opportunities to seek the little joys in life as they come. Tim, for the five hours I knew him, was all about those little joys. The best I can do is use his advice and love those little joys, too.

BULLET POINTS

In which I try to figure out what else is notable from the last three weeks, other than taking six exams in nine days.

• The big announcement I mentioned in the short prologue is this: I'm starting a new blog. I'll still be posting on here, but I like to reserve this for big posts that I want to work my thoughts out in. This new blog is for things that are not that, because 1. I hate Tumblr, 2. They're too long to tweet. I'd also like to cover in greater detail items that would normally be relegated to bullet points on here. It's titled An Appreciation Of... and it will be debuting within the next two or three days, likely with 3,000 words on Lil B's Kevin Durant diss.
• I refuse to make any official bracket predictions until the bracket itself is released, but I'd like to revise some earlier predictions: Michigan (if 2 seed) to the Elite 8, Tennessee (if 11 seed) to Round of 32 (if 12 seed, first round exit).
• It's spring break! Go to the beach, or don't; either way, here's a daylight-themed playlist of sorts that is half-cold and half-fun sunny stuff, like March.
• Lent update: decided to give up soft drinks for this year. Currently going eight days strong after making myself drink a Pepsi to attempt to stay awake on the ride home from Louisville. (It didn't work at all.)
• Six exams in nine days is the new worst thing ever. The closest comparison is having six exams in nine days.
• Spring break plans: watch/play basketball, read, write, watch at least ten movies and a season of TV, etc. Have fun, you guys.

Try pink carnations,

Will