Next Number Please

glenmckenzie(justabitfurther)

Nov 1

I originally tapped the main thoughts of this post out on the computer screen way back in November 2019.

As I looked back over the post, it is .......just as relevant now as it was back in 2019. Here's the kicker though, the guts of the post are a 365 days a year view of others and yes,......of ourselves, we should never lose sight of.

Yesterday was October 31(Halloween) and now guess what? Today is November 1st and what I often refer to as the unofficial start of the holiday or Christmas season. As a side-note(and only slightly off-topic), if I'm in a "poopy mood" or even a bit cranky, I often refer to this as "the season of excess."

Seeing as today is November 1st, the anticipated level of holiday and Christmas season extravagance for this year, certaintly is no were near a 10 out of 10. In fact, it might not even be on the scale yet.

But, we all know, it does ramp up more and more as we progress through the next seven to eight weeks. And given the craziness that can surround and potentially trap us until at least New Years Day, it is almost enivatble that one can start to feel lost. Not necessarily in a physical sense, although I suppose that is certainly possible, but more is a sense of "you" - who you are as a person.

Although it can be challenging to realize at times, you/me/them/us are more than a number(s) on a shipping reciept or more than a lost face in a crowd of lost faces.

Read on.

Whether we like it or not, the holiday season is upon us.

Not to sound like an old curmudgeon(I'm not), but I suspect that most of us are starting or will soon feel just a bit warmer in the depths of our hearts.

That warm and fuzzy feeling, knowing that Christmas, friends, family, food, parties, and such are peeking their noses out from around the corner. All of it ready to explode upon us a furry of activities and diarrhea-related overindulgences resulting from the numerous trip to the party buffets and pub crawls.

With the craziness that can surround the next six weeks or so, it is easy to get lost or certainly feel lost.

Not in a physical sense, but in the sense as a person, as "you."

You know, waiting in line for "your number" to be called. Not your name to be called, but some random ticket you've yanked out of a machine of the wall "to be called."

The delivery company asks for the shipping number when the package you order isn't delivered on time or gets lost. They don't care about your name necessarily, because "the system only tracks a number they tell you."

This can be the season to feel lost in a crowd. Just simply a number in the mass of humanity.

But, you do have a name. Others have a name as well.

And we know that people are much more than numbers. Our name is "who we are" to some extent. It can provide a glimpse of our heritage, and where our family might be from.

There is a lot associated with our name. More than being simply a number; than simply being lost in a crowd.

But, what if for eternity, all you are known for and remembered as is simply "a number?" Take a short side trip to a post from 2017 of now being only remembered for eternity as just a "Number."

From June of 2017 - Just Another Number.

If at no other time of year, we need to remember that people, whether they are strangers or those we know, that they are far more than a number.

Far more than a face lost in the crowd.