What determines a 'thing's life span? Is it a measure of the 'thing's worth or is it a measure of how much the 'thing' has given back to the world? Is it the quality of life that it experiences or is it the degree to which it is cared for? How does one measure such a thing? Or better yet, can such a thing be measured?
Have you ever filled a sink with boiling water and felt the temperature, not realising the extreme heat being given off? I have, not out of foolishness, but rather out of curiosity. This situation arose due to a Physics lecture which I attended, explaining the phenomena of radiation and conduction of heat. On the outside it was a simple exercise, but on the inside it held so many meanings and representations of everyday life. The boiling water, initially, is an abnormal anomaly to the environment and, given a short period of time which can be theoretically calculated, the water returns to the average, normal temperature of its' surroundings. I won’t claim to be the only person who took that message and looked beyond its' scientific meaning to find a philosophical aspect to it. I can however claim that these statements are my own, and they are unique, unlike the, now cooled, boiling water. While they might be unique, they will not last. Anyone who reads these statements and reflections will eventually perish, and this platform on which they are stored will eventually lose this data to corruption, theft, lack of electricity or any other form of deterioration over time. These statements have a lifespan.
Emotion is an inanimate object in my mind. Emotion does not live, it does not breathe, and it does not walk around and show the world how great it is. Happiness, sadness, excitement, boredom - all of these things have lifespans. They don't last forever, how could they? They exist due to some event of measurable purpose and reason, and events have a start and end time. Love, lust - both expressions of desire. To love is to appreciate while having faith that your appreciation will be justly returned; it is to care for the reason that you want to be cared for; and for what? To prove to ourselves that we are capable of living and appreciating those around us? To prove to ourselves that we are capable of 'emotion'? Emotion is just our human selves trying to justify our inapt ability to survive on our own. To what degree do we share ourselves with one another to prove to ourselves that we can go on another day? Emotion is a blinding aspect to humanity, but in the end, emotion, just like everything else in this world, will die. Emotion, just like everything else in this world, has a lifespan.
Think about it. We as humans spend roughly 80 years (if we're lucky) in this place we call the Blue Planet, and we spend around 15 to 25 years developing and enriching ourselves in the hope that we make something of ourselves in the following 40 years. After that we sit around and vegetate. We find things to occupy our minds. Our life span is of average length, by means of we are no challenger to a tree or to a rock, but we live longer than a worm or an ant, but really what does that mean? So what if we live longer? Humanity is the most anthropomorphic form of life on this speck of dust we revolve our so-cherished existence around. We crowd ourselves with thoughts of our needs and never stop to think - with any intent on changing the outcome - 'hey, what effect have my actions had on the world I have so generously been given?’ We as the human race, are entangled in a David and Goliath spiral which is going to end in our destruction. We are Goliath in the realm of Mother Nature, and she is winning the war with her 'Worms of David' in the struggle to maintain life on earth. We have a lifespan, we just have leech-like abilities to suck the life out of anything around us in order to get 'just a little more'.
I, along with everything else, have a lifespan. And I have knowledge that this lifespan of mine could be significantly shorter than my average counterpart to humanity. Granted this may be an overlooked statement to many, but what should not be overlooked is the message I have conveyed throughout this 'essay-of-sorts'. Just in case you missed the message, here it is one more time. Everything around us, including ourselves, has a lifespan. A period of time in which it can put work into something worthwhile. A period of effectiveness, of successful productivity on which the world can look and marvel at its worth to the good of life. We are here for a purpose. Not a purpose given to us by a higher power, or by those around us. Every one of us has a unique purpose on this Blue Planet, and it is our individual responsibility to recognise such a reason for life.
We, on average, have 40 years to accomplish a lifelong purpose. It may sound like a significant period of time, but based on the past few years and the speed at which they seem to have passed, I wouldn't bet my reason of life on it. It is time, dear friends, to recognise our time in this world is limited. It is time dear friends, to make our lifespan worth the resources we used to get here. It is time dear friends, to give back to the world we call home.
Our lifespan is shorter than we think, let’s get to work and give back to the world that gave so much to us.
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