Famous Last Words

Today I was sitting in my school's cafe, sipping a latte and reading some Vonnegut (how college, right?) and I had a thought.
Let's see. How do I go about explaining this.
Sometimes I feel like everything anybody does is just a reference to something else. Take Gilmore Girls, for example. Don't get me wrong, that show is one of my favorites of all time. It has shaped my life in a way that no other show has. Every preconceived notion I have about college and relationships comes from that show, in addition to my ability to talk quickly and occasionally spout witticisms without batting a lash. BUT- there is always a but, isn't there?- their humor and intelligence stems from their vast knowledge of other things, be it pop culture or ancient literature or current events. It is all references to something else.
As I was letting the espresso dance on my tongue with the steamed milk and vanilla essence, I was reading Hocus Pocus and I noticed that the narrator constantly talked about people's last words. And this, of course, reminded me of John Green's Looking for Alaska. I had never heard John Green talk about how the main character's obsession with Famous Last Words was inspired by Vonnegut's novel, but I know that he is a Vonnegut fan, so I started to think that this was, in fact, his inspiration. He had just never talked about it.
I am not entirely sure if this is true. If you know otherwise, PLEASE let me know. I am beyond curious.
Anyway. I started thinking about how many references to other things occur on a daily basis. I reference things so often I get confused about what is real and what is just a reference. Like my wardrobe. It is basically a reference to different eras, different movies, those whose style I admire. I don't think that this makes anything I do any less genuine; I am the sum of all of these parts, and everyone else is the sum of a myriad of different parts. That is what makes each of us interesting.
I kind of veered away from my main point, didn't I?
My point is, I guess, that it's kind of unsettling thinking about how many things (I really need to learn a new word. Did AP English teach me nothing?) are referencing something else. Everything is so...unintentionally collaborative. (Ooh that's nice. I like that.) By referencing things, and maybe occasionally passing them off as our own, we connect ourselves to the past and to each other. On the surface it's unsettling, but if you dig deeper...it's comforting.