You Are Here

Several years ago, an opportunity appeared in my life that required me to become especially familiar and comfortable with the use of maps.  It was along the lines of these things where you have to not only know it really well, but also thoroughly understand it and be able to apply the knowledge and understanding.  So I took it upon myself to learn this, to figure it all out.  And as was my standard convention for gaining knowledge in those days, I went to the library and found myself a book on the subject.

This book was called, rather aptly, You Are Here.  Now, since several years have elapsed since I've even seen the book, I must say that I really don't remember anything about it.  This really was a while ago.  It wasn't exactly what I was looking for either, so I flipped through it quickly and promptly returned it, not thinking particularly much of anything in it, as it didn't affect me in the least at the time.

So now, several years down the road (oh the irony), I find myself remembering it.  We think of so much in this world in terms of maps.  To figure out where to go, we rely on a schedule to tell us when and a map to tell us how to get there.  Maps, be they accurate representations of the world we live in or mere metaphors for ideas, imaginings, dreams, lives, or whatever else, are the tools we use to determine our place in the world.

We've taken maps from the interpretations of the land they once were to address our situations in life along the plane of time.  They represent anything we may want.  We've found ways to change scales and interpretations, models, and objects being put before us to make maps into what we want them to be.  They have come to represent places, people, networks, societies, and anything else we may want.

Such a seemingly practical object, something so simple as a map...and yet we have made it into something so complex, so incomprehensible, so precious to ourselves as a human society.  Things we may not call maps, yet when we come down to it are really one and the same, we've made it mean something important, something essential to our human mindset.  It's how we learn about ourselves...not only where we are, but who we are as well.