Witness

I heard the most profound dialogue in a movie a few days ago.
She asked, "Why do people get married?"
He offered, "Passion?"
She countered, "We need a witness to our lives.  There's a billion people on the planet....I mean, what does any one life really mean?  But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything - the good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things - all of it, all the time, everyday.  You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it.  Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness.'''

For some reason this exchange between the characters resonated on a deep level; it has stayed with me even days later.  Is this desire to have a "witness" to our lives what causes such restlessness?  Is this what creates the emptiness that plagues the deepest recesses of our soul when we lack that one other person to "witness" the carefully choreographed routine that has become our life?

I think it may be.  Some mistake this yearning as lack of a physical connection with another, but find that when morning comes and your lover is gone and the wonderful after glow has faded - the restlessness inevitably returns.  Essentially we may be answering the immediate physical need, but we are cheating our deep soulful need - the need to have our own witness.  Not just any witness will do either; it has to be the one who will stand by you during the good times, the bad times, the terrible times, the mundane times and every time.

Relevance Our Quest to Matter

Is our journey to find love an attempt to be relevant?  Is it a thinly veiled endeavor to matter, even if only to one other person?  Do we seek this endorsement from another to know that our very existence does have meaning, purpose, and relevance?  Why does our quest to matter seem to govern so much of our existence? 

As an educator I am reasonably sure and can assert that I matter; I matter to the many students who cross the doorway into my classroom every year.  My existence matters in the respective lives they will go on to lead for I helped shape their growth.  Doctors matter to their patients who may succumb to life threatening illnesses without their help.  The doctor knows that often the quality of his patients' lives is improved by their association with him.  Business owners matter to all their employees who may be jobless otherwise.  The business owner knows that many lives depend upon him and the success or failure of his business.  His economic impact is further felt by the surrounding community.  Parents matter to their children for without them (biologically) the child would not exist.  Parents continue to matter as bonds of family and connection continue to form and cement throughout all of their lives.  Churchgoers and the multitude of the faithful know that they matter, because God’s word tells them that they do.  His word reminds them of His infinite love for them.  It seems that our relevance matters only when examined in conjunction with another.

What does that simple utterance imply?

Does it mean that our own relevance is only measured by the lives of others that we touch through the course of ours?  Does it mean that if one is alone he is irrelevant?

I find that hard to believe.  I think each and everyone of us matter and while it may be nice to matter immensely to one other person, we are in our single solitary existence relevant in this big cold and sometimes impersonal world.