By M. Brandon DeGeorge
And the livin's easy? Hardly. One of my best friends is a teacher in the big city, and even though he should be off, he's working in the hothouse of summer schools to earn some x-tra cash. Of course...it was only for a month...but still, imagine working in 103 degree (that's fahrenheit for you metric peoples) weather for hours on end. Yeowch. Might as well make an omelette while you're at it. At least you won't be hungry.
Anyway, a question: does sun = fun? We'd like to think so. Especially those of us who suffer from sunlight deprivation syndrome. We as human beings don't carry out any photosynthesis; there's no chlorophyll running though our blue veins. (We might all look a lot greener if we did.) Still, sunlight makes us feel good, except when we get too much of it, and then there's sun poisoning...too much of anything, even a good thing, is no good.... Moderation!!
There is a suggestion that there is something in the particles of natural light that causes a chemical reaction inside us, that makes our thymic processes run smoother (or more efficiently...you get the idea). Then, all natural functions of our bodies run in perfect (or at least better) sync, and we feel good. We are a machine that runs well, looks well, and our appearance to others is a shine, a reflection of that sunlight which we absorb.
Someone that sees you, all glowing and shiny like that, is bound to get suspicious. "Oh, he/she's on drugs...there's no way he/she can be that happy, naturally." Really? Does that mean that anyone that's ever been in love is on drugs? From a certain point of view, yes. Y'all have heard at least one song relating love to a drug, I'm sure. Is that good? Is that bad? We shouldn't judge. There's no possible way to know all of the factors involved, and even if we could know...our judgement would still be clouded by our experiences.
In our secular and empirical society, we often shun the possibilities that we cannot explain, mostly because they require something outside of what society labels as "normal": FAITH. We are afraid of the unknown, and that makes it doubly hard to have faith. Doubly hard in that we are afraid to push the social envelope, in fear of rejection by our peers, and also that there is no empirical evidence that faith brings us anything. Only anecdotal evidence exists, and to believe in that also requires faith. I believe that I have empirical evidence based on personal experience, but don't ask me to prove anything. I can't. Faith is not something you can record with a video tape, not something you can photocopy and hand out to prestigious members of the scientific community, not something you can make a presentation out of...but still...it takes faith to win the Nobel Prize. Ironic, isn't it?
Maybe I'm a little cynical about the rest of the world, and maybe I'm pessimistic about the ability of our society to learn and transcend itself. It really just comes down to how much I'm in love with life, and how much I want everyone to feel the way I do. Who's to say they don't? I'm only me, I can only be me, so I can't step inside someone else and find out how they feel. Maybe I'm just waiting for the day when someone runs up to me, looking completely ecstatic, grabs me and shakes me, and says, "Hey, you were right!!"
If any of y'all ever meet me, make sure you do that, 'kay?
Siwrnai dda.