newton's first law

remember these horrible kinds of graphs in your textbook that made your eyes glaze over and want to stab yourself? i don't know why the so-called clever physicists think that these kinds of pictures speak a thousand words.

because they don't.

gibberish, fools.

but put into plain english, this drawing is of isaac newton's first law: an object at rest tends to stay at rest, while an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

ok, big frackin' deal. like, who really needs to understand physics or calculus in the real world except for astronauts and the nerds who work on the hadron collider in switzerland? (although i have to admit that i find that kind of stuff very cool. god i am so geeky.)

as an academic proof for doing calculations, sorry isaac, it really has no pertinence to real life. but conceptually, physics can pertain to many things - including emotions, the soul and your spirit. hear me out.

have you ever been in a relationship where you get into some little argument and then it suddenly snowballs into a completely different thing altogether? one minute you're just arguing about some miniscule thing and somehow the next minute is filled with all the reasons that your partner is totally wrong for you/not being very understanding/driving you crazy and you can't believe (s)he did it again - whatever it was. an argument in motion tends to stay in motion.

and then you both huff off and the air is thick with tension and you feel sick to your stomach. you start questioning whether this person is even right for you and how could they not understand something as simple as you. ridiculous, eh? but now the stalemate fills the space and both of you are avoiding each other b/c each of you is so right. a silence at rest tends to stay at rest.

and then the longer the silence festers, the longer the emotions have a chance to get taken over by the head and its cool logical proceedings, the more it makes sense that maybe you should break up. maybe you should see other people, like the cute guy/girl you met in passing through work who flirts with you. and your mind starts filling up with possibilities, even though your body is still in the same place. 

but you see, the longer that stalemate stays at rest, the easier and more sense that breakup becomes. and that is how relationships/marriages/friendships end. because there was nothing to stop the inevitable. 

but what about the unbalanced force? this is where i believe free will plays a part. this is the part where you have a choice in the matter of "inevitability" and the natural laws of motion. you can choose to lay down your ego, to say sorry, to forgive. to be the bigger person, even in the face of. you can change the trajectory of a looming outcome and put a relationship back into play.  

and that, my friends, is newton's first law at work in real life. because this law of stopping/starting and the forces at play around you are a part of every single aspect in your life. who said you couldn't work, couldn't achieve your dreams? who said you couldn't get that dream job/girl/guy/house/etc? your self-doubts will keep you at rest and keep you there forever. a hitter seems to gain momentum from out of nowhere and is suddenly in the midst of everything, in perpetual play. sheer will.

the relationship argument is just an example. but the structural concept behind the feelings... well, that's just physics.

stay tuned for newton's second law...

(nyc)