As a junior engineering major, Amelia Rose, found a seat in Lockwood Memorial Library with her mint tea and a tote bag full of projects and binders of lecture notes. She would have never expected to land a conversation on universal interconnectedness, the theories that entail chance encounters and the uncanny ways people's lives may intertwine. As for Rose, the belief that “everything is connected” can’t be coincidental — there are instances she claims she sees play out every day at UB.
“People tend to undermine just how much one tiny interaction can truly make an impact on someone and their whole day,” Rose said, “you smile at someone, ask about their day, shoot, even their name — that can cause a chain reaction in mysterious, beautiful ways you’ll never see.”
Rose says she felt drawn to the concept of interconnectedness after a class discussion in her sociology course. The professor had gathered students to express the series of events that led them to UB.
“It was unreal,” Rose states, “one of my classmates shared that they only applied here because their brothers did. Another student mentioned they met a recruiter after their soccer game. It allowed me to come to terms with how everything is randomly generated in life but somehow yet so in sync.”
She paused briefly, then continued, “it caused me to fall into a state of sonder, I sat there almost in awe just thinking about how many people had to cross paths for me to even be sitting where I am in this classroom.” It is as if the campus is a “string of invisible things.”
Walking through campus, Rose expresses she tends to catch herself curious about the lives of those who surround her, even without relation.
“You witness someone upset on the phone outside One World, someone cackling with their friends outside the Starbucks by Student Union, someone sprinting to the shuttle bus attempting to get to class on time,” she stated, “we are all living such unique lives, yet sharing similar experiences — the same sun on our skin, the same nerves before an exam, the same family dramas because, let’s be real, we all got traumas. That must mean something.”
She looks at UB from the perspective of “the game of telephone,” but in real life where students unknowingly influence each other through synced experiences — from group projects to study sessions at the local cafe; the simple act of living life at the same time in the same place.
Rose remembered a moment last semester that forever morphed her perspective on strangers and their daily lives.
“I was super down back in November,” she said. “I failed two quizzes and not only was I homesick but physically ill on top of it… Then this girl I hardly knew from my freshman orientation group stopped me outside of Lockwood Memorial Library and said, ‘Hey, I don’t know what’s exactly up with you but you look like you need to hear that you are doing more than fine and to take it easy on yourself.’”
Rose smiled at the memory. “She probably doesn’t even remember saying it to me. But I do. That one sentence pulled me out of the funk I was trapped in that day. It instantly reminded me that we are all connected, even when we don’t realize it, because how did she know to say that?” For Rose, having faith in interconnectedness isn’t conceptual — it's practical.
“It allowed me to gain awareness in perspective — truly live with genuine intent behind all action,” she said, “If everything I do has a domino effect, then I wish to make sure I’m putting out nothing but good. Even if it’s something so small. Even if no one notices.”
She took a sigh of relief and leaned back in her chair with pride.
“I guess not knowing is the point, you live to find out— you never know who you’re affecting, so choose to be kind. There is always time.”
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