Worlds are Colliding

I'm sitting in front of my computer at work, and an email pops up in Outlook "FYI". I open it and see a thesis by Peter. Peter has been in the yoga class I teach for over a year.

I jump out of my chair and run around the office to my boss' office.

"Paaauul (with a high note in the middle), you know that I teach yoga to Peter?"

"Who's Peter?"

"The guy who wrote the thesis that you just sent me. I've been teaching him yoga twice a week for like a year! He's just a young guy, like, my age."

Kathryn, in the office getting coffee from their shared stash of "good" coffee, rolls her eyes and walks out.

"I don't see the relevance here."

"My worlds are colliding Paul! His thesis was from Environmental Design and I'm taking GIS for urban planning, and I work at the library in a similar field, but when I teach yoga, they only see me as the yoga teacher, always forgetting that I have some connection to what they do."

Long silence.

"I still don't see it."

"Don't you see my worlds are colliding? It's from Seinfeld, when George says his worlds-"

"Ah yes, I thought I'd heard that before" (laughing, but I think in memory of the Seinfeld). "I still don't see the significance here."

"Paul, it seems like I might have to find someone you're close to, someone you see on a regular basis each week, then I'll find something they've published, send it to you as it pertains to your job, and then you'll see."

Guffawing, "yes, I guess so. But really, did you read it? Do you think anyone really needs to be told that 'people go to places that they live close to?' He spent how long working on that?"

Silence on my end now. Staring. Mouth open. For an iota I felt I might get somewhere, might move somewhere, might be recognized for the important part of the web we all exist in. It had passed. To connect myself to Peter now meant less credibility.

"Okay, but you have no sense of empathy..." as I briskly walked away. I turned to go out the door and almost knocked over Kathryn.

"Ahhh!" I screamed, in a way as a joke, but also out of a compulsion to scream.