The first time you see death take a toll on someone’s life, you realize just how transient life is. All of a sudden, you do not know how to feel anymore. You try to bring about a pang of emotion but all that is released are salty remnants overflowing from the brink of your eyes. You grab a hold of everything that is dear to you because you are not sure when death will strike again. Slowly, emotion creeps back into your veins and you realize there is something all too surreal about the life that you live. You take the steps to school every day, but what about when you are gone, will those steps matter anymore? Will you matter anymore?
Somewhere along your journey you realize that the steps you take only leave a mark on the world if that is what you want. If you want to live your life and disappear without so much as a trace, you do just that, and it is incredibly easy. But what if you want your steps to last?
You think of wet cement first being poured. As you walk by the wet cement, you have this deep undying desire to leave a footprint so that years from now people will know that you were there. Before stepping into the cement though, you think that maybe there is a better way to let the world know that you exist and so this is what you are in search for, a meaningful way to leave a mark on this world, on our world, and on our existence.
You walk by the wet cement and as you walk farther down the sidewalk, you see a homeless man to your right. He is lying on top of a vent and while you can go to your heated home at any time, he must rely on the heat that rises out of the vents. You make sure no one sees as you slip some money next to him. He looks up at you, smiles crookedly, and tells you that he does not feel well. You look into his eyes but almost immediately you look down at the ground because the pain transcends from his eyes to your heart. You wish to bring warmth to his world but all you can do is quickly wipe a tear from the side of your eye so that he does not see your sadness, a sadness that has become his life. You give him your best reassuring smile.
You realize that you do not want to make an impact on this world by jumping into wet cement, but your heart desires to leave a mark on the lives of people. You begin research in computer science because you want to help build an artificial intelligent system that will provide revolutionary health care to third world countries and American cities. You want to use this system to bring about change in a world where sadness is so overwhelmingly present. You want to help somehow and this is the only way for you to diminish the sorrow around you and elsewhere. This is what your life has become, an attempt to change the lives around you.
On your way to school every day, you pass by the cement that is now dry. As you walk farther, the homeless man is still lying there. You see his persistence to live and you know what you must do, keep working hard to make sure that the footprint you leave behind is not just one that is in wet cement, but is present within all the lives that you hope to make a difference in. From the sadness you learn that you must bring about change. You take the sorrow and turn it into a beautiful idea, in an attempt to help transform Philadelphia from Grit to Beauty.
Loading ...
