Revolution

By Aalia Jagwani

‘Dramatic and wide-reaching.’ 
These are the metrics used to measure change, and to assess whether it qualifies as a revolution, or if it’s just some ordinary alteration. 

But how accurate is this metric? 
Is significance truly determined by drama and the number of people involved? 

A quick glance at popular taste—at the musicians we adore and the books we devour—is sufficient to safely surmise that talent and fame, or significance and the ‘width’ of impact, are largely independent of each other. 

As for drama—what is dramatic enough to earn the title of a revolution?

A year is one revolution of the earth around the sun. A year is dramatic. 

But what about a minute?
It seems too insignificant, too fleeing, to be called a revolution. 
And yet, it sometimes takes only that long to cross the bridge between life and death. 
And everyone knows that Dying is dramatic.

And what about a second? 
It seems too quick, too difficult to grasp, to be called a revolution.
And yet, it sometimes takes only that long for a relationship to transform. For a flicker of a spark that changes everything.
And everyone knows that Love is dramatic.

Every moment you continue to live is another moment you chose life over death. Every time you make that choice, it is a revolution. 

Every minute is a revolution. Every second. Every moment. 
Every realisation, every time you change your mind, it is a revolution. 
Every time my life inadvertently intertwines with yours, it is a revolution. 
Every time you look at the sky and feel it in your bones that somewhere, someone else is doing the same thing and thinking of you, it’s a revolution. 
Every birth, every death, every minute stitched into the fabric of our world, is a revolution.
Every time a thousand strangers unite under the force of a shared passion, it is a revolution.
Every time someone falls in love, it is a revolution.

The revolution is here, and you’re a part of it. 

Revolution
/rɛvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/

noun

-A shared passion or interest, acting as a unifying force to connect a network of people.
-A significant change or shift in energy, involving one or more persons. Significance remains an indefinable metric. 
-A circle formed by an instance of revolving. Or a semi-circle, or any other fraction of a circle.

To read more words that have been redefined, click here.