If you’re on TikTok, or even if you’re not, you might be familiar with the Roman Empire trend. Women ask the men in their lives — whether that be a boyfriend, husband, dad, brother or friend — how often they think about the Roman Empire. The seemingly random question took off into a trend as the men in these videos casually explained that they think about the ancient empire quite often — from every day to multiple times a week to a few times a month — to the surprise and confusion of many. I think it’s a harmless and fun trend that reveals how pretty random things that might not have obvious ties to our everyday lives can take up a significant part of our minds. It’s an interesting insight into our individual and collective internal worlds and the thoughts that fill them. So, after watching a few of these videos, it got me thinking about what my Roman Empires are. What are some of the specific and random things that I find myself thinking about every few days, weeks, months or simply more often than necessary?
1. The Titanic
Ever since I watched the movie years ago and learned more about this infamous historical event, the story and tragedy of the Titanic have taken up a weirdly significant amount of space in my brain. Maybe it’s the natural human tendency to be curious about tragedy and drama, but the sinking of the famous ship and the countless stories of its victims and survivors are simultaneously devastating and fascinating. I think it’s not just a sad story about a ship that sunk. It’s a real-life revelation of how people will make choices — both selfish and selfless — in the midst of panic while being forced to face their mortality. It reveals how socio-economic class can literally correlate with chances of survival, the cost of human hubris, how no amount of industrial progress and advanced technology is above failure and so much more. It’s no wonder that the Titanic has captivated the world and inspired films, books and even more tragedy.2. Chicago’s Alleyways
Maybe I don’t think about this too often when I’m in South Bend, but this was something I found myself thinking about most days when I was living in Chicago this summer and subsequently whenever I find myself in a big city. One of the first things I notice when I’m in Chicago is how clean the city is when compared to other places like New York City. After doing a little research into why, I learned that the city’s many alleyways — narrowly tucked into most neighborhoods and appearing everywhere within the maze of Chicago’s dense urban structure — are the reason. Alleys often go unnoticed or are seen as dirty and dangerous. However, they serve important roles in cities for sanitary, communal and even environmental reasons. Someone even called alleys the “capillaries of [a] city’s circulation system,” and I just think that’s beautiful. We don’t think they’re important if we think about them at all, but they impact life in cities tremendously. This Roman Empire might have more to do with my interest in the design of cities and in urbanism in general, but I still find it fascinating and something I think about weirdly often.3. Rihanna’s 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show
This one shouldn’t need too much explaining. I just think everything Rihanna does — from her music to her businesses to her style — is insanely cool, and her halftime show is honestly the only thing I remember from the Super Bowl. I’m literally listening to Rihanna as I write this column.4. The Concept of Time
Obviously, we all think about time everyday. It governs when we wake up, when we go to class, when we meet up with friends, when we go (or try to go) to sleep and basically every other detail of our everyday lives. But I often find myself questioning time and the power we all give it. When did time “begin,” and when did people start recording it? Who decided a minute is 60 seconds and an hour is 60 minutes? Is time a real, scientific “thing” or is it more like a philosophical concept? Is there anything else in the world that every single person alive uniformly follows and is governed by in the same way? Does time flow continuously, or is it broken down into seconds, milliseconds and even smaller? On one level, time is just what we blindly follow and obey (not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just how the world is), but on another level it’s almost like a big, existential question mark. I try not to think about it too much on this second level because only headaches and existential crises lie that way.These are a few of my Roman Empires. Evidently, they’re mostly extremely unrelated to my daily life and also are very impractical and unnecessary things to be thinking about as often as I do. Maybe it’s a waste of time and I should be dedicating this brain space to more “productive” ventures, but I think it’s important to have these random things that interest us enough to take up space and time in our minds. The world, our lives and their pasts, presents and futures are vast and filled with so many compelling periods, events and people. I think it’s worth dedicating some of our time to dwell on it all. We spend so much time in our own heads that we might as well allow them to be interesting places.
Meg is a senior majoring in political science and minoring in data science and business economics. Besides writing, she enjoys spending time with the people she loves, riding on public transportation and listening to good music.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
