Cacophony!

'We're born as many different people'
Jane Fonda commenting on 'Inside the Actors' Studio' hosted by James Lipton

Turn that statement over in the head and you realize that what she says is so true. Instinctive reaction to the statement is the obvious. Of course you are different from I who is different from you and so on. Pause.

I remember this line - But Im a million different people from one day to the next
Bittersweet Symphony by Verve

Why do we forget this? And if we ourselves forget that we're different people all the time, how do we expect others to remember?

So today I'm a seductress. Next moment I'm a tantrum throwing child. And the next a dear friend commiserating or encouraging or supporting. A hateful daughter, a nagging wife, unfulfilled and bitter sister are some of the other characters that we essay. So are these really the roles we play or are they the different people that the above are talking about? Is it the same wine in different bottles?

But strangely we have an image of ourselves that is so defined isn't it? And we define others too in this water-tight compartmentalised way. As soon as the person rocks the definition so to speak, something comes crashing down. We kid ourselves and others when we say we understand the need for 'space', we 'accept', we 'cut a lot of slack, we 'give a long rope', and so on and so forth. We don't. Each of us is rigid and inflexible. We are different people, yet we want to believe that we're this single, defined, sacred unit that is 'I'. We want it, think it and will it just so.

Because it's actually 'my way or the highway'. And to think we're the evolved species. We write books about understanding the human psyche, about evolution, about a gazillion permutations of why relationships are the way they are, why men and women are the way they are, and we discuss ad nauseam about how things are subjective, the rationale, the this and the that. We make films and we write music and we express ourselves in a million different ways. So what are we all trying to say? That hey, I'm the same as you are, but am different? I'm a million different people, but I am one?

Or are we just saying 'this is who I am'. We're all trying to carve out a place under the blazing bountiful and unimpeachable sun and we're so hoping that that place is unique and will be a legacy and we'll be remembered for who we are. Just as we are.

We're unique. Yet similar. But amidst the cacophony, of theories, the search for identity, the search for something, however you define it, (we're all seekers you will admit), each and every one of us wants to be heard. In their own unique voice. Without judgement.

Tonight, I'll sleep with the lyrics of the following songs for company:
'Innocent Man' - Billy Joel
'Iris' - Goo Goo Dolls
'A Hazy Shade of Winter' - Simon & Garfunkel
'Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall' - S & G again

And hold Kahlil Gibran's words, "It is when you give of yourself that you truly give" close to my soul and hope that I never ever forget it.

Sometimes in the cacophony, we're trying so hard to be heard that we forget to listen.
To our hearts.
And souls.

Just listen to yourself today. What can you hear?