Generations and Inspiration

A couple of days ago, I got a call from my sister. She had some interesting news to impart to me, simply the fact that she's pregnant. I haven't quite gotten used to this fact, although my brother-in-law says he has. There are a lot of implications this has toward me--a reminder that I am aging, as I want to deny it; there will soon be another person that I will undoubtedly know is genetically related to me; a reason to remember my lack of experience on many of the maturity fronts.

I could give a stack of reasons that would be odd or unique to me, but one simple fact remains: I'm going to be an uncle and I'm weirded out by that. What I mean is--this is a link between me and the next generation. This will be a person I will share 25% of my genes with, the single greatest level of anyone outside of my sister. (I'm playing biologist for the sake of this arguement.)

Only in the past year, have I really started to understand the link between this generation and any generation to come. Here's how I came to think about that link in the first place:

When I first saw the theatrical preview for Children of Men, I couldn't completely fathom the consequence of there not being another generation of humanity. The idea that all humanity's accomplishments would have absolutely no meaning whatsoever inside of a few decades... it was a chilling thought when it first struck my mind.

I didn't know then that I would be so inspired by this film. I didn't know that I would be so moved by readically different world created by the alteration of a single biological principle. I knew, back in January when I first saw Children of Men, that it put my mind in certain mode, ready to explore my creative mind in new, wondrous ways.

But I think I'll discuss this more later...