Saturday, August 11, 2007

Nowadays...

Woke up way too early again. Thats what a night of good drinking (and by good I mean it the old fashioned way...where you drink until you drop) does to me. Forces me to sleep early, and then robs me of my sleep waking me up around 4 AM. The proverbial asshole who dangles the candy in front of the baby, and just as the baby is about to grab it, pops it into his own mouth. Annoying to say the least.

In this half unconscious and fully unhappy state of mine, I flicked on the light switch, and in the few milliseconds that the bulb took to turn on, a pulse of joy surged through my body. Time slowed and I was flooded with a feeling that can only be compared to meeting the love of your live for the first time. In that instant a small part of the secret of life was revealed to me. The joy and privilege of being human in today's day and age.

Look around yourself for a minute and imbibe the wonder emanating from every object around you. Each gadget from the chair you are sitting on, to the computer you are reading this on, exists because of the combined intelligence of generations of people. And how marvelous are the results of that intelligence! Its hard to fathom all that goes into making the simplest of things. A mechanical pencil for instance. It has a complicated system of interlocking mechanisms, where pushing a button in one direction causes the lead to drop just the right amount in another. The plastic needed to make its outer shell was literally developed by humans out of thin air. Nothing of the sort ever existed before man had a crack at it. He took what god made, and made it even better. Think about it...improving on the works of the ultimate being! Even the creation of the lead is a fascinating sample of human intelligence at its best. Primitive man discovered that he could use graphite to leave stains and modern man figured ways to fashion it into super thin pieces that make amazing writing instruments. He even managed to classify it by different characteristics such as diameter and hardness, and reproduces it with an astonishing degree of consistency.

So next time you are complaining about how sad and lonely you are, turn on the light and think about how lucky you are to witness this achievement. This Mona Lisa of epic proportions, in front of which even the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids at Giza quickly fade.

1 comment:

Anuj said...

What a super post man!!! So true. Suddenly, I respect the keyboard which is helping me convey this message to you. I am quite enjoying reading some of your writings right now. Write more brother!! Your posts are a delight to read!