12/09/2021
I don’t remember ever trying to walk or talk or even needing the assistance of my mother to hold my sippy-cup. But one thing is for certain, and that is, one day I realised that I was alive.
But what exactly is being alive. A conscious existence. breathing. Doing. Growing; just a contrast of activities.
I remember basic school, I had to be around six years old, at that time, but that is all I remembered about basic school. Despite being a Writer today, if I should write something about my time in basic school, it would be fictitious because I cannot remember much of it, even though it took up a span of my life. My life experiences began to stick at age nine, and what I mean by stick is clung to my brain, deposits to my memory bank; so, it would be fair to say that the thread of my life began nine years after I joined the human race.
But isn’t that interesting, nine years of existence that I cannot recall. Wow. I know absolutely nothing about what happened in my first nine years, even though I must have laughed, cried, and exercised other emotions while becoming acquainted with my senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling.
By the time I was a teenager, I understood my senses and their functions perfectly, I also understood that I should be careful in everything that I do, in order to protect my life. I learnt that as much as I needed water, being submerged in it can be life threatening, fire and air too; elements on which my life rely on could also be a threat if mishandled. People, whether I relied on them or not, people can be a threat to my life.
But what is life? Why am I here? I heard the stories about the birds and the bees until I made my very own bird and bee story, and still, I remain clueless on the subject of human existence.
But not just me, it would be fair to say another seven billion people are equally mystified…. bewildered, at loss for the answer to the questions of why are we here, what are our purposes and so on. Lack of of knowledge created speculations and speculations turned into beliefs and beliefs turned into religions and religions turned into politics and from religion and politics come segregation, racism, biases, classes and divisions.
We learned as we discovered, and we became resourceful with what we have, because we don’t have another choice. And one of the most important thing that we have learnt, is that all living things shall die.
Wow. The first time I was forced to accept that as a fact, that was my reaction. Wow. I had a sudden rush to my head that stunned me, a hard pill to swallow, you would say. I mean, I was exiting my teens, I had lived years and have learned to care and love; family, friends, plants, pets; one day, they’d be no more.
Like I said, it was a hard pill to swallow, but one I had to swallow because whether I accepted it or not, it is what it is. It is going to happen, it was happening.
So I grew up, accepting that my world was governed by seasons, and with each season, it takes and it gives. With each season life is aged and life is renewed. It is like being on a conveyor belt in a factory, every item has its turn, and for us it is the same, as long as we protect our lives from predatory elements, we age, becoming old, hairs grey, skins wrinkle and memories fade into the direction of where we first emerged.
Those are the facts, even though I still do not understand life.
But what I do know is if those are the facts, the only real gain is to have lived, breathe, did, grew old.
But make it count.
Leave your mark, affect lives, inspire others, add meaning to love so that others will no longer speculate about its definition, be kind and gentle with others because we are all suffering from naivety, and it is so much more fun to be positive than to be negative.
Learn who you are and avoid being lost in culture, religion and politics, be yourself and love yourself, and if you find that the true you is different from the masses, see it not as different but unique, rich, special, a goodness made for a reason, even if you or I will never know what it is.
Exist © Ian T. Sebàs 2021