I am a very forgetful person. In my career of forgetting things, I have lost ID’s, laundry cards, silverware, credit cards and water bottles, so many water bottles. I am also pretty good about not caring too much.

A couple of weeks ago on my egregious bus ride back from Hamilton College, I sat down in my seat, opened my AirPods case, and realized both of my AirPods were lost. At that moment, I felt like I had reached rock bottom. The next seven hours on the bus presented me with the opportunity to think about why I was so distraught about this. If I had lost anything else, I do not think I would have felt this overwhelming sensation of helplessness about the loss of two seemingly trivial pieces of plastic that vibrate in my ears. The following excerpt is a snapshot into my train of thought on that bus:

You could argue that earphones are simply devices that allow you to listen to sounds without bothering others, but I think they represent something more than that. Earphones are powerful objects because they are a very personal medium through which we enjoy something else very personal: music. Music plays more of a role in our lives than I think we care to admit. It hypes us up before athletic competitions, relaxes us in times of stress and brings us closer to those we love in ways that nothing else can. 

Take Entergalactic, a movie and album recently released by Kid Kudi, which I think is a perfect example of how music can affect us. At the end of the day, Entergalactic is a modern love story with most of the songs being about the protagonist falling in love, which is cool, but the album also has songs about persevering through hardships and just doing what you want. The album can help you lock in, laugh and remind you of what, or who is really important when we’re hung up on things much more trivial in life.

I got off the bus and bought the jankiest, cheapest pair of headphones I could find on Amazon. They do not fit my ears and often do not work and sometimes they even make weird noises, but they are also my favorite and most prized possession.