Who am I?

     For every being cursed with self-awareness there remains the unanswerable question: Who am I? We struggle to find meaningful connections to one another. We are the caring friend, the loving father, the doting mother, the protected child. We fight and we love in the hope that somehow together we can understand our significance in the universe. But in the end no one can share our burden. Each of us alone must answer the question: Who am I? What does it mean to be alive? And in the vast infinity of time, how do I matter?
     There are nearly seven billion people on this planet; each one unique, different. What are the chances of that? And why? Is it simply biology, physiology that deters this diversity? A collection of thoughts, memories and experiences that carves out our own special place or is it something more than this? Perhaps there's a master plan that drives the randomness of creation; something unknowable that dwells in the soul and presents each one of us with a unique set of challenges that will help us discover who we really are.
     We are all connected: joined together by an invisible thread; infinite in its potential and fragile in its design. Yet, while connected we're also nearly individuals and the vessels to be filled with infinite possibilities and an assortment of thoughts and beliefs. A collection of disjointed memories and experiences-can I be me without these? Can you be you? And if this invisible thread that holds us together were to sever, to cease, what then? What would become of billions of lonely, disconnected souls? There lies the great quest of our lives to find, to connect, to hold on for when our hearts are pure and our thoughts in mind, we are all truly one, capable of repairing our fragile world and creating a universe of infinite possibilities.