I can see nearly forever from here, but not quite. Everyone I know is beside me. Everyone I ever met but do not see any more is behind me. Everyone I have never met but will is before me, but even if I look ahead, I cannot see them.
I look beside myself. Those beside me see what I am seeing, some beyond my range, some before my range. Some of them I agree with about what I see. Some I disagree with but understand why they see what they see, and they understand why I see what I see. Some I disagree with but understand why they see what they see but do not understand why I see what I see. Some I disagree with and will never understand why they see what they see, but they will understand why I see what I see. Some I disagree with and will never understand why they see what they see, and they will never understand why I see what I see.
I look behind myself. Very few of those behind me ever met can still see me. Those few who can still see me see someone different than what I now am. Those many who can no longer see me still carry me with them without knowing it, so they are different than they would have been if they had never met me. I too carry them with me and I am different than I would have been if I had never met them.
Although I cannot look before myself, I try. I imagine that some of them will pass by in an instant and move behind me for good. Some will stand beside me for a while and then move behind me for good as well. Some will stand beside me and stay with me until I move behind them for good. Those will expand the range of what I can see.
There are also those who may seem to be before me but will never stand beside me or move behind me. But the more I think about those, the more I see that they never were and can neither be nor will be.
Then there are those who can no longer be beside, before, or behind me. Those I still see, sometimes more clearly than those still standing beside me, even though I have changed because of those beside me.
Finally, there are others too, but I have no way of placing them beside, behind, or before me. Because of all those beside, behind, and before me, and maybe those someplace else, I am forever.
