I Saw The Moon On My Way To Class, And Then Realized That We Are All A Part Of Something So Much Greater
The worries about gen chem 2 grades suddenly melted away as I began to contemplate what really matters.
I woke up on a mundane Monday morning thinking that things were about to unfold the same as they always do. Other than the slight adrenaline rush I received when I realized it was 7:51 a.m. and I still had to get ready, drive to campus, park the car, and walk to my 8 a.m., the morning seemed just like an ordinary morning. Waking up, getting to school, and then completing the tasks that I had lined up so neatly in my planner, ready to be crossed off one by one were the primary concerns on my mind.
During my fast-paced walk to class, my mind was focused on nothing else other than how I was going to slip into the lecture hall a couple of minutes late. I was not completely fretting because this class happened to be a large lecture hall for a 1000-level general education course; if it was anything super important, I would never have agreed to enroll in the 8 a.m. meeting time.
With my feet hitting the pavement swiftly as I hustled to the building, thankful that its location was only a couple of blocks from the commuter parking lot, I shifted my gaze to the light blue sky. Initially, my attention was caught by the intricacies of the still-barren branches of the trees that lined the sidewalk. The dark branches protruding from the sturdy trunks of those trees rooted deep within the earth seemed to all to be stretching up to the infinity that is the sky.
Amidst all of the stretching branches was a break of space that framed the moon subtly. It was shocking to look up and spot the moon so quickly that I stopped walking immediately. Arching my back slightly in order to angle my neck upwards, I admired the simplicity of that subtle framing of the moon in-between the tree branches. While that little white speck seemed so simple, I suddenly became very mindful of how daunting that simplicity was. That little white speck actually exists as the moon thousands and thousands of miles away from where I was standing. The same gravitational forces that were keeping my feet planted on the sidewalk as I hustled to class were also keeping the moon in orbit of our planet.
This is when I realized how truly amazing nature is, and we are part of that, too.
Fathoming how the universe came to be is most-certainly an intimidating thought process, to say the very least. Looking up at the moon reminded me that there is so much about nature that we still do not understand. The way that the most intricate mechanisms work in cycles that continue operating relentlessly is something that can often be taken for granted. Oftentimes, us humans get so caught up in the mundane stressors of daily life that we forget about what really matters. Further, us humans get so caught up in attempting to find meaning and live a purposeful life that we forget about the wonders of nature and factors that we cannot control.
Thus, while on that brisk walk to the class that I was a few minutes late to, I became aware that it didn't really matter. Of course, this is not to say that being late to class or skipping that meeting time completely is acceptable behavior all of the time; responsibilities are still present in our lives day in and day out. However, I am emphasizing the importance of developing an accepting attitude that we are all going to endure occurrences that are not ideal and that we would never have predicted would happen.
At the end of the day, reflecting on the magnitude of your personal problems is helpful to remind you of what really matters; it truly aids in providing you some perspective as you realize that you are a part of something much greater than the minuscule trials of human-constructed society that can frequently be taken much too seriously.
And if you need any help with this, just look up to the moon or any feature of nature; admiring the elements of beauty, growth, and mystique will help to remind you that life is all of that, plus so much more than we realize.
