We stopped speaking and just sat still for a while. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a woodpecker pecking away busily at a tree. It was closer to us and clearly audible over the chirps and cries of other birds. The rhythmic droning of the woodpecker drumming away at the wood prevented what would have been an otherwise eerie silence from settling in.
“Relevance, that’s such a funny word.” She interjected the lingering silence.
“How so?” I asked.
She took her time to respond. Time that seemed to have stopped around us. “Relevance or staying relevant is all about being accepted according to the general norms of society or to put it simply, just perfecting the art of “fitting into” the surrounding. We try so hard to stay relevant that we end up forgetting to be the person that we really are or who we really want to be. It’s like how pieces of a jigsaw puzzle are of varying designs when separate but when they are placed together to complete the puzzle, they lose their shape. They become a uniform square or a rectangle. Similarly, we end up losing the qualities that made us unique and become a shadow of the person we originally were. So even if we are “relevant” by social standards in the end, it is not because of who we are but for who we have become.”
I was surprised that it made sense to me. Not her words; those would have made sense to anyone, but the fact that I felt that it was in character of her to feel this way. Here I was, talking to a stranger and yet, I felt like I’d known her for years. I don’t think she expected me to say anything in response, but I felt the need to continue.
“Even though we change in our need to stay relevant, I believe we still don’t completely let go of the qualities that define us. If that was the case, society would remain unchanged. As time passes, the general norms of society changes with it too. Like the circumstances surrounding this very bridge - from the scenario where the town lived without the need of this bridge to the situations leading up to the construction of this bridge to the current reality where the town has progressed past the need for this bridge. So we’re not completely lost even if it seems like it.”
I don’t know why I said that. It was atypical, and frankly an unnecessary thing to add at the end of my statement. I was almost positive that my utterance of that sentence had something to do with the thought in my head. Slowly but surely, it was coming to me. I just needed some more time, time I wasn’t sure I had.