I close my eyes and I can see it.
It’s a blue and green bubble that hangs in the darkness, silently spinning around itself. It glows with the activity and stories of each of the 7.4 billion people that walk across it’s surface, but from here, all of those stories look the same. The story those lights tell is short and sweet. It’s only three words long.
“We are here.”
But where exactly is here? The image behind my eyes zooms out and the little blue and green bubble becomes just a hint of light, silently spinning around itself in between billions of other lights, painted against the ever-expanding darkness of… something.
This is the image that haunts me from time to time. It has an impact on me that no other image has. When it pops into my head, for a second, I am overwhelmed. I feel small and lucky, incredibly lucky to be here at this moment, taking part in the story we all share. All the things humans argue about and kill each other over seem pointless when I close my eyes and see this. After all, we only have each other in this darkness, each other and our little blue and green bubble. That’s it for now. If we destroy this chance, our story changes from “we are here” to “we were here, the end.”
What we need is to control ourselves. What we need is to take a breath, admit we could be wrong, and think our actions through. It’s simple in theory, but difficult in practice. In the heat of an argument, we get carried away by an automatic “kindergartner-sticking-her-tongue-out-and-waving-her-hands-in-the-air” moment, immediately defensive of our position.
Think of it this way: we as humans don’t even really know what the darkness surrounding us is, yet we as people would claim to be right in most every situation. It doesn’t make sense. It needs to change.
I’ve only found one tool powerful enough to stop me from going into full-out kindergarten mode and that is my image. My image is a reminder to myself of how small, lucky, and fallible I am, of how in awe I am that we are somehow here. It conveys all of that to me quickly enough to calm me down and gives me a chance to be better. I conjure it up in my head and the angry train that came screeching out of the station is stopped in its tracks. I stop seeing things in black and white, right and wrong, and start seeing it all in true color. I can think again. I can politely disagree and communicate to resolve differences. Like an adult. Like a human should.
My challenge to you is to find your image. If my little blue and green bubble works for you, use it. If you have something else that creates those feelings, then save it in your mind and paint that picture when you need it most.
I’m a teenager in a very confusing world. I’m not sure what to believe about a lot of things but I have decided one thing for sure. I believe my world is able to get better, and that I and every single one of us has a role in that, no matter how small or insignificant the role may seem. And I’m going to do my best to play my part.
So, what’s your image?
It's your turn to figure out an answer.
