10.10.2007

between
























Water, Cascais, Portugal © kjm

I was thinking recently about distance. Particularly about how much distance, physically, lies between us and others at any given time. This came to mind while standing in the woods in Oregon, not hearing any cars, not hearing any people, not hearing any planes. My friend Steve was up ahead somewhere on the trail, but I felt wonderfully isolated with the big trees and the wind.

Wouldn't it be interesting to determine the exact time in your life when you were physically the farthest away from another human being? For example, Neil Armstrong's taking a step on the moon wouldn't count, since Buzz Aldrin was just inside Apollo 11. A bit extreme, but you get what I mean... I've been to some fairly remote places, but always in the company of others. How often are we really, truly isolated?

One day, when Google gains complete World Dominance, maybe we'll be able to do a search on our own life's history...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Of all the pictures you've put up on the site so far, I think this is my favorite to date. So simple, yet fascinating to look at. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I miss Cascais.

Anonymous said...

Your Apollo mention isn't far-fetched at all: Alfred M. Worden piloted the command module on Apollo 15, which resulted him being 3596 km away from the 'next guy'. I suppose this record might hold for a while, with the planetary missions having typically somewhat larger crews.