SOME THOUGHTS ON BELONGING

Manchester, April 2015

It seems to me a lot of people I know are struggling to find where they belong in life. Maybe this will put things in perspective for them, maybe it’ll make more sense, maybe not.

I believe that when you feel you belong in a place, it’s because you need to be there. Things depend on you being there and doing whatever it is you’re supposed to do.

When you are where you belong, you are just the right size weight in the right place to keep a finely-tuned scales in the balance. You’re just the right note from the right instrument in an orchestra, played at the right moment to create the final touch of a beautiful symphony. You’re the right cog or part of the right size and the right material in a well-oiled machine that keeps it running smoothly without fail.

In other machines and other orchestras and other balances, you’re probably not as important. Things could go on alright without you. You’re not quite perfect. You might even grate a little. But here, it doesn’t matter so much.

If you miss your favourite TV show, the world’s gonna keep on turning.

If your top didn’t match your shoes today, the world’s gonna keep on turning.

If you can’t make it to that pilates class, the world’s gonna keep on turning.

If you forget to check your inbox, the world’s gonna keep on turning.

If you turn up late to the party, the world’s gonna keep on turning.

If you lose that favourite necklace you had, the world’s gonna keep on turning.

If you take a day off from pumping iron at the gym, the world’s gonna keep on turning.

Hell, if you step in dog shit, tear your jeans, chip a nail, if you lose your keys, lose a fight, gain ten pounds, if your bills keep stacking up, if your ease of life keeps dropping down, if your partner leaves you, if your health leaves you, if your faith leaves you, the world will still keep on turning.

But if you leave the place you belong, the world does not quite keep spinning the way it used to.

If you don’t make that weight and play that note and turn on that axle, everything grinds to a halt. You forget, you turn up late, you miss something, you can’t make it, you take some time off, and everything starts to descend into chaos. People might start calling you up and say, we want you, we miss you, we need you, why aren’t you where you’re supposed to be? The whole you were only a part of isn’t the same without you, doesn’t work, won’t carry on, can’t function. You see it all start to change and fray and fade and dissolve and crumble and tear and break and fall and eventually smash to a million pieces. The longer you’re not where you belong doing what you’re supposed to do the worse it gets.

Without you the scales waver, the balance starts to tip and the weights slide and fall off. The needle swings and the arms shudder and the platforms move as the balance is shifted and broken.

The hole you leave in the song dents it, the sound rings wrong and the players frown and waver. The synchrony fails and the light of the tune fades as the music loses its power.

With you gone the machine starts to shudder and creak, stuttering, slowing down. Cogs spin and chains swing uselessly at nothing, screws rattle loose, gears grind, girders groan, pieces clang to the ground as the mechanism starts to fall apart.

That’s when you know you’re where you belong, where you need to be. Now ask yourself, are you headed to that place? Will you be there to keep it all from collapsing? Or will your world keep spinning just fine on its own?