If you need reminding of how differently we are taking in the information of this world, just google a few books and read the reviews. I always sample the books online before buying. Searching for a new read yesterday, I had to laugh because three times in a row the “It was so bad I want a refund” review was right next to the “I can’t stop thinking about this book, it changed my life” comment. Each were given the same words. The same pages. But clearly they didn’t receive the same story. 

So it really shouldn’t be a surprise that we have such vastly polarizing views of the world. The information is processed so differently within each of us. Affected, I suppose, by our own experience. This was proven again as I picked out my book last night. As I began sampling, I wasn’t certain about this book, not sure if it would appeal to me. Did I have anything in common with the main character, a young Japanese girl writing in her notebook? It was when they cut to a woman on a remote Canadian island, who finds this journal that washed up on shore in a bag that I knew. It was one of those moments when you look around to see if you are actually being filmed. Am I part of the simulation? Because surely some magical force directed you here. It was when they cut to the Canadian woman describing the front of the sketchbook that I knew — “À la recherche du temps perdu” (French — in search of lost time). This is the sketchbook I started recently. The sketchbook I show you almost every day with the birds. The sketchbook that I hold daily. The one that is currently resting beneath the tablet that I’m typing on. 

This is the reason why I buy this book. The reason that I am connected to this Japanese girl and this Canadian woman. The reason I still believe we can come together. We can find a way. The very reason I have continued hope. 

There are so many things that can divide up. But I am not that different from you. We can always find a reason to connect. If we keep searching, time is never lost.