We Are All Electrons

I may be an English major, but throughout today's class (particularly when we were discussing Brady's brilliant and beautifully written essay on circles) the image that resounded in my mind was that of an atom: particularly how the electrons behave in regards to the atom. You see, all the talk about circles and how they are everywhere in literature and make up everything in life in general (sound like we could be talking about atoms yet?) led our class to discuss how we felt about this- this merry-go-round we cannot step off of. Here people began to favor the phrase "the terror of the circle." And not without reason.

It is absolutely frightening to think that we are all stuck on some circular track- destined to repeat the same things ad infinitum. It makes a person think, "Am I doomed to make the same mistakes? Am I going to have to live through that horror again and again?" However, I have come to a different conclusion. One that fits my experiences better; we are not stuck on the same track like some toy train, but rather we travel between concentric circles like electrons jumping through energy levels.

In my life, I have experienced things in cycles. Sometimes even to the point of realizing it and knowing what is coming next. However, I have felt myself break free of those cycles too. I have known what it is like to gain a different perspective so that I can look at a certain event but be far enough away to not be immersed in it any longer and to not have it as even a possibility on my horizon. And this new vantage point, in my electron model, would be me entering a new energy level and viewing the previous one from there.

In this way, it does not seem so scary to be traveling in cycles. We are not doomed to make the same mistakes and we are not going to have to live through the same things over and over again. All we must do to ensure that is enter another "energy level." Electrons do this by getting into what scientists call an "excited" state. For us it is not any different - gain a new perspective or have a new experience or just make up our minds to be different than we were last time! Get passionate and adamant about it damnit!  We are not stuck unless we allow ourselves to be. Any entrapment is of our own making, or at least of our own allowance.