I had a long time client pass away suddenly and this past weekend we drove three hours one way to attend his funeral. While waiting in line to pay our respects to his widow, I was reminded of a phrase I’d read years ago:

“We need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things, all of it, all of the time, every day. You’re saying ‘Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness’.”

From the movie Shall We Dance

We each go through our lives, trying to make it ‘BIG’ as independent people and that’s just not how it works. We are meant to help each other and to not only witness but to participate in each other’s lives. I now understand why, when one mate dies, the other follows not long after. They have lost their witness and we, as a people, have lost our ability to help others through a crisis.

When out this week, be present in every moment; don’t worry about what’s coming next, be present now. Be a witness.