Waking Up

"Why do we wake 'up'?" he said. He's the one at the coffee shop always skims through the West Hawaii Today and pops his head over the broadsheets to make an announcement or ask a question. That morning, the topic was 'up' and its usage.

The few in our corner happily generated instances of up's peculiarities. Yes, wake up. Also, shut up, put up, hang up, get it up——knowing smiles all 'round——and smarten up, or dress up. Show up, up and at 'em, up and leave, up country, up land...I can hardly do justice to the long list...

Later on my walk up mauka from Upolu, I thought of earlier times when lexicons were built upon incantations uttered across steaming cups of tea or coffee, and Dr Johnson came to mind. I'd always associated the great man of letters and his Club with tea shops but now I find I can't substantiate that myth, for they met at the Turk's Head around beer time. And then I thought of Newton, his preoccupation with what goes up must come down...I wanted to squeeze his calculus for a drop of common blood, the sort shed by those who nursed cups of tea or coffee shortly upon rising, the sort who mused upon the reason for all things, including the force of nature. But I find no evidence other than my own gut feeling that the ordinary mortal did indeed discuss the nature of 'up' if for no other reason than the nature of 'down' weighed so heavily upon them.

One only has to enter into the great rotunda of the room once called the British Reading Room to understand how 'up' holds infinite appeal. 'Up' is our legacy, though it requires a great deal of stretching or yoga, since standing up strains our frames, sitting up even more so, and looking up...just think of the weight of the head balanced by the organization of the skeleton, muscles, tendons, neural network, the miraculous lot that has been given us.

Think too, how the primitive syllable is formed by emitting a sound from the throat and then, sealing it with the lips as it escapes the mouth...it's a noble word, 'up', and I am heartened by its treatment at the coffee shop the other day.