Our Sonder World

Ephrata Gezahegn
3 min readJun 12, 2022
A world filled with vivid and complex Lives.

These days we have been seeing ads that are so vague, which only have a slogan or a video of indistinct figures. Like ከጎንዎ ማን አለ? It truly got me to relive my old habit of creating a storyline for the person that just passed me by. It was my favorite thing to do when I was waiting for my brother to pick me up from school.

The first time I saw the ad I turned left to see who was sitting next to me, a middle-aged woman wearing a mask, I mean who wears that nowadays? Looked for a ring on her finger for a second before she looks back. Luckily I saw a wedding ring, it was 8:30 pm, she must be going to her home where her children are waiting for her, who has done their homework, chores and maybe watching a kid’s show right now. She must be working at a very demanding job that makes her stay this late. What could she be thinking about? Maybe about that customer she met today, her children, her husband? She probably has some cold and is probably thinking of home remedies. I would never know unless I try to. It’s crazy how she has a story, a history, a life. It’s crazy how the 7 billion + people living in this world right now have a life, a yesterday, and a tomorrow.

You know how in a movie we just know about the main character’s story, and not know a single thing about the extra we see in one scene. We only care about the main character not dying, while the rest of the cast are burning during the fight between the superhero and the villain. Yes, it is all staged but it wouldn’t poke my conscious to mind the rest of the actors that “have a life”. I think we are all like that to some extent. We think we are the protagonist in this life with the extra actors in our life like our family and friends there to fulfill our movie. I sometimes feel that way too, But it is scientifically wrong because if I am the main actress in this life why would the world/movie begin something billion years back? It could start with me as the first eve? I guess? if all our stories are told, with all of our lives highlighted, it would be an unending movie. So I guess we are the extras, the stories that won’t be highlighted. So if the “director” / world doesn’t revolve around us why waste our time taking the protagonist role?

Simply look at your best friend, your dad, the old woman sitting beside you, the young man who is in the street selling, the girl who is laughing with her friends at the cafe, the guy standing in the queue, the guard, the driver….. and millions of people in the world that have a story, “a life as complex as your own, which they are constantly living despite your personal lack of awareness of it.” so oblivious to what others are going through in life. a life as vivid and complex as our own. Doesn’t that make you float back down from the pedestal the extreme self-love put you at?

The ground you are standing at right now is where you need to be. Grounded. Content. Selfless. Loving.

You can never know everyone’s history so why ruin it with your insult, or judgment? Just live your life with contentment.

#kindness #content #sonderworld

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