I am Jack's Complete Lack of Originality

"I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known."
-Chuck Palahniuk
(1)

Earlier today I was attempting to clean out my room (2), and as I was going through some clothes I found some of my old favorite shirts (3), and I couldn't help but think of the era they came from - who I was then, what I was into, and more importantly, who was around me.

I was in 9th grade and I was 14 years old. I had just completed my first season of XC and was running my first season of indoor track. I had just made the switch from pit orchestra to the stage for Oklahoma. Life was changing rapidy - I was growing apart from people I'd grown up with, and I was meeting new, mostly older kids. This wasn't a bad thing, these kids were pretty good influences. I was going through a Bruce Springsteen (4) obsession, I wanted to be a genetic engineer, and I had hair that was so long, it could reach my butt.

That winter - around Christmas time - I was introduced to a friend of a friend from Caledonia. We talked online a bit, and I eventually hung out with him a few times. We got along outrageously well and had a ton in common (5). It was pretty intense, it all happened really fast. We talked on the phone constantly. We never really dated or anything, but we were pretty into each other. It took me FOREVER to get over. In the end, simply put - he was much more of an asshole than I thought. It ended really abruptly. He wouldn't even say "hi" to me for about a year. My friends wanted to kill him, and Ali tried a few times (6). Basically, it was a disaster. So was even knowing this guy worth it? The month of happiness surely could not amount to the twelve it took me to forget. (6.5)

Whenever you get to know someone - whether you really get close to them or not - you learn things from them that will stay with you. From this guy, I learned about Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, Seven Nations - all some of my favorite bands now. I started listening to celtic rock, which (as previously seen) has become pretty important to me. I watched the movie Boondock Saints (7) - now my favorite. I probably picked up a few less noticable things - I started caring less about what people think. This guy, although an asshole, left an imprint on my life that will stay there for years and years. We might never talk again, but whenever I listen to Seven Nations, I have to give a little Kudos to him for giving that to me.

This is one person I've met in my life. Think about everyone that has come into yours thus far, and think of how much they have left behind. Is anything in your life a truly original product of you? The things you enjoy, the things you think about, or believe - did someone else put them there? We just bounce around, running into and rubbing off on each other; we leave some of us behind, and then we take some of them. We are constantly molded by others - our parents, our teachers, our friends, our enemies. We don't necessarily change because we get older, or because we mature. We change because we meet new people, with new ideas, and new things to leave in our life.

It's rather amazing to think about, that we aren't ourselves because we choose to be, or that we were just made this way. It's an ongoing process that will only die with our bodies. It's comforting to know that we're all connected, if by nothing else, by who we are (8) - that it came from everyone around you, and in that way, we're kind of all the same. No man is an island. (9) It's beautiful to know that we are all constantly learning from each other, even if we don't realize it. As they would say in High School Musical (10,11), "We're All In This Together!".

1. Fight Club is so awesome!!
2. Yes, still in the process of cleaning my room.
3. Alexandra gave it to me for Christmas :]
4. Rosalita, jump a little lighter! Senorita, come sit by my fire!
5. After talking to each other for weeks we found out our fathers had worked together and been really close friends for years. Go figure.
6. The knives at Pontillo's are not as sharp as they appear.
6.5 (because I forgot). If you are wondering, we eventually ran into each other like a year and a half later, started talking again, and became friends! Happy ending!!
7. Sherpards we shall be, for thee, my Lord, for thee.
8. You are not your fucking khakis.
9. This reminds me of the movie About a Boy, which was very good. Hugh Grant sings in it.
10. Number three comes out soon!
11. Zac Efron is pretty.