Have you ever thought about how fascinating texting is?
No seriously. Texting is phenomenal. It’s like passing digital notes to whoever we want (and sometimes to people we don’t want). I can text my best friend who I don’t have a lot of physical contact with due to our busy schedules and different schools, and we can have full-blown conversations about whatever we want, thankfully without having to talk on the phone. It’s FASCINATING.
Do you know what else is fascinating? How there are absolutely minuscule creatures on this planet. As humans, we’re pretty small compared to blue whales, elephants, and our other behemoth brethren. But we aren’t necessarily MINUSCULE. No, I’m talking about tiny ants or spiders or frogs, wherein they are one-one-thousandth the size that we are, or even smaller. Even most wild birds and domestic hamsters consider us to be huge compared to their little bodies, probably compared to how an average human looks next to a blue whale, give or take a few multiples. It’s fascinating that life can be found in the tiniest of spiders. The tiniest spider is living a rich and vivid life, just like we are, even if its small spider brain can’t comprehend it fully.
You might be thinking that this makes me sound like I’m easily fascinated by little things, but that’s the POINT. Being easily fascinated isn’t a bad thing – in fact, I argue that it’s an amazing thing. Being fascinated is like being curious, which is the key to human knowledge and psychological growth. Being fascinated opens gateways into understanding that the world doesn’t revolve around any of us.
Each day that goes by is more uncertain than the day before. That much is evident. In 2016, we have seen some awful things happen to our fellow humans and animals. Many of our heroes have died. Climate change is running rampant with almost no restraint. Foreign relations are becoming more and more strained, and this cocktail of awful leaves a lot of us disillusioned and scared. It’s easy to forget how amazing and beautiful the world is in the wake of these current events, and I even catch myself feeling as if everything is hopeless. I find myself half-joking about World War III starting way more often than I would like.
This is why being fascinated by small things is a good thing. Those of us who are easily fascinated by the little things in the world and what they have to offer are often reminded just how minuscule we are. We may be bigger than that tiny spider and its rich existence, but we realize that we aren’t the only ones who are just doing our best to survive. We realize that while humanity is ripping apart at the seams, we were still able to see the invention of something as incredible and now commonplace as texting – something that generations before us were unable to conceive of as possible. We’re reminded that we aren’t the only things on this earth and that we are still capable of great and amazing things.
Even now, as I am reminding myself that the world isn’t as great as I wish it were, I’m fascinated by the fact that I’m typing these thoughts onto a computer, with the intent of creating an article in which hundreds may read, or tens, or no one at all, and I’m in awe. My thoughts in this article, and the thoughts of others like me, are like brightly colored parrots that reside in the densely coded jungles of the Internet and computers, and it makes everything seem a little more colorful and a little less hopeless. Humanity is still likely on a fast track toward destruction, but the world around us is still turning and is still amazing, and we are reminded of that through the little things we notice around us.
