Rocket scientists, musicians, and evil geniuses

This past week, I attended TEDxNashville. If you're not familiar with TED, it's kind of difficult to explain, but essentially it is a big convention where people who are brilliant and creative in various ways get together to share ideas.

So I went to this convention (well, the local branch of it that happens in Nashville) not knowing what to expect.

And it was beautiful.

There were really smart people,
rocket scientists,
musicians,
evil geniuses,
and they delivered fantastic talks.

But the best part of it was the people I met. (Well, maybe the coffee, but mostly the people I met.)

It seems like there's something about people who get together from all kinds of different backgrounds - who are interested in different things - that is unique and intriguing, and has the potential to create new stuff.

I think creation comes from the intersection of things, the collision of differences, and I think if you can be the one standing between two mountains crashing together, you can see some amazing sights.

You and I, we are different.

You have your strengths, your weaknesses, your daily struggles.

And I have mine.

And so we could say that we have separate lives, and little in common, and we could go back to our holes and stay there until everything gets dark and safe.

Or maybe, we crash together.

Maybe we combine our differences, and create a shear, a tension that unleashes amazing things into the world.

We are the islands of humanity, sitting separate and disconnected.

The phrase "No man is an island" is false.
Every man, woman, and child is an island.

But rather than spending our lives building bridges, maybe we should let the tectonic plates come crushing together.