Here’s the thing:

I live in an expanding universe.

I live in a galaxy, one that’s flat and round and spirals outward

I live in a solar system where many rocks and several planets orbit a single star.

On one of those planets, which happens to be the third one out from the star in the middle, there is a strange thing that we call life. Basically, some interestingly shaped molecules on the surface of the rock sat up and started to breathe, and eat, and eventually move around by themselves

And some of the things that are alive have evolved to the point at which they’ve become aware that they are living.

(Hello! That’s me. I’m one of those.)

The thing about life is that it is temporary. It comes into being, and then it exists for a finite amount of time, and then it doesn’t.

I’m only going to exist for a little while. There is going to be a time when I don’t exist, anymore. There’s going to be a moment that is the last moment that I am aware of my own existence, just like there was a moment that was the beginning.

Between those two moments…

There is the living of the life, and the life of the living.

I get to look up, and look around, and become aware of things happening outside of me.

I’m aware of the shape of the rock that’s under my feet, and the universe that is everywhere. This is mostly because I am a living thing that moves around, and if I wasn’t aware of the shape of the universe, I would be constantly bumping into things all of the time.

Inefficient, if nothing else.

I am also aware of the existence of other living things, and I am aware of the way that being around them makes me feel.

There is this thing that happens when two or more living things are together in the same space. Sometimes, there is an agreement to help each other keep on living, in one way or another, or at least to have a better time while we’re here.

The connection that is forged in the wake of that agreement is a powerful thing.

It might not be a thing that matters very much, compared to the stars and the galaxies and the universe

but from the perspective of a tiny speck of consciousness in a universe where I keep fucking bumping into things all the time, and from the perspective of a consciousness that knows that one day it will cease to exist and I don’t get to know when that’s going to happen, yet

it is something that matters, to me, and it’s something that matters very much.

When you think about it, it is so amazing that any of this ever existed at all.

I am so glad that the stuff of the universe eventually formed itself into the shape of a friend.

I hope that you’re having a good time, while you’re here.