(Dorset, 1913)
Well I do. For me these are lives that were once lived, lives that fell in love, lives that walked along a pebbly beach, lives that felt the warm rays of the sun on their skin. Lives that have since been extinguished. Like gravestones in a graveyard - lives no more. Seeing the faces of people who once lived makes me realise that I too one day will be gone. Like the life above. It's a sad thought I know.
But I am pulled out of this melancholiness by the equally arresting thought that yes, I will be gone one day, but isn't it amazing that I (against impossible odds) am alive today? What is the probability that I would be born? What events had to take place in the past to conspire to ensure my existence? There are many many more people, possible people, who will never be born. Who will never see the light of day because events never conspired in their favour. We are the lucky few. The lucky one's. Rejoice in your luck. Saviour every moment of the experience we call life. There is nothing like this experience in the whole universe!
There is nothing ordinary about being 'you' - being you is magical. Being you is wonderful. Being you is the best thing that could have happened to you. For what is the alternative? The alternative is nothing. What do you remember of life before you were born? Exactly, nothing. You were born in a pre-packaged device that has the ability to see, hear, taste and feel the world. A device that knows it is alive. There is nothing ordinary about the life condition. Nothing ordinary about seeing dark clouds. Nothing ordinary about feeling raindrops. Nothing ordinary about having lunch. Nothing ordinary about driving your car. Nothing ordinary about the life experience.
I would not swap this experience for anything else in the universe.
