a couple days ago i absentmindedly said, "It's amazing that more people don't die over the summer."

When returning to one part of my "seasonal life", seeing all these people that I had absolutely no contact with for several months, I found it hard to grasp the concept that the existence of these other people (that were by all means dead to me for months) was not dependent upon my perception of them. Yes, yes, elementary, I know, but why did I think they would die? Why did I think they would/could/might die? Why couldn't they have taken up sky-diving or Buddhism or some other thing that would change them to me? It makes it uncomfortably easy if people don't change when I neglect/deny/forget them.