A Letter to Everyone Yet No One in Particular

Photo by Debby Hudson

Dear stranger,

It seems that you have stumbled upon my letter in the universe; one written to everyone yet to no one in particular. It is a letter with many of my thoughts, a jumble of words mixed together that I cannot describe. But maybe you will take the time to read this mess of mine.

I wish I knew you, your story, the events that led you up to where you are now, reading this letter. I wish that I could know everyone’s story, know the stories of the 7 billion people on Earth right now. The stories of over 100 billion people who have ever lived before. I wish I knew the stories that have disappeared with the passing of time, and the ones that have yet to be finished, so that they can live on, so that they won’t fade away and be forgotten.

But I know that that isn’t possible. That even if I know your story, I’ll never know all of it. I’ll never truly know who you are, who everyone else is. I’ll never know about the path you had to take to get here, the twists and turns on a road different from mine. I’ll only know the part of your world that I can see through the tiny window that we share, the part of your world that will also become part of mine.

And I guess that means that means that no one will ever truly know me either. No one will know all of my joys, my sorrows, my passions. No one will know my full story, all the things that I find beautiful, all the things I’ve experienced, everything I want other people to know. No one will know exactly what the path I have walked was like, just like I will never know yours. No one will ever know any more than what they can glimpse through the glass, a small piece of my world that will also become theirs.

But maybe the window I have to your world, however small, is enough. Maybe knowing that you have a story, just like me, is enough. That you have a life just as complicated and complex as mine. That you are also making your way through life, walking down a path you make for yourself. 

We are all so different, yet the same. All walking on our separate roads, paths entwining so tightly with some and barely brushing others. But we all have a different story to share, different places from which we came. And we all will be heading to different places in the future, each of us knowing no more than the next person, each of us finding our own way as we walk along. Each of us not knowing where our path will take us, creating new stories to tell.

Our stories will begin. And our stories will end. But there are so many things that could happen in between. And everything that happens in between is a story worth telling, a life worth living, a journey worth taking. 

So thank you for reading my rambling thoughts, for letting me be a part of your story, for letting me share with you a window into my world, no matter how small. 

Sincerely,

yet another stranger stumbling through the universe