Last night, as I walked home, I started thinking about what it meant to write every day. Finding topics seemed a little intimidating.
I pondered that problem and looked down, watching my step. You must know that in my city, many paths are made up of big stones that do not have perfect alignment - so the surface is not entirely flat.
It's treacherous for senior citizens at times, and it's fun to watch as people who are staring at their screens lose their balance.
When my mum visited, she explained that these stones had been there already in her childhood. Chances are they'll survive many more childhoods.
She referred to them as stumbling stones.
Although the term mainly refers to a project reminiscing about victims of national socialism. If you see a gold stone in the ground with a name, now you know what those are about. You can find them in plenty of German cities.
So yes, today it's about stones.
If you trace the word back centuries, it comes from the Proto-Indo-European steyh, meaning to stiffen. In Britain, stone is also used to talk about weight.
And it's not just a noun. As a verb, it describes a brutal way of punishing (often women) for sins by throwing stones at them. That's where "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first" comes from.
On the other hand, when someone is stoned these days, we probably assume they are high af and not being killed viciously by throwing stones at them. I consider that a sign of progress.
Speaking of progress, recently, I came across an article telling me that Koreans had started to adopt stones as their pets. This is, in my view, one of those funny side effects of all the progress we've made. We have the tools to connect, and yet we cringe at the idea of talking to someone irl.
What happened to the Stone Age way of combatting loneliness by simply talking to another person?
No stone adopting for me.
But, there's one stone I show everyone visiting (when possible).
It's a stone carrying the first letter of my name.
This is where Napoleon addressed his army.
Pretty cool.
Imagine the stories stones would tell.
This is part of my challenge to write at least 200 words every weekday on random thoughts I have.
Let's see how long I can keep it going.
Thanks for reading. 💚
Nao
