Earth Life Writer

Impermanence in a Photograph

If I’d taken this photo a fraction of a second later, the bird would not have been in the shot. This bird will one day take its last flight.

If I’d come some other time of year, the cherry blossom tree would have shed its petals for new ones, or maybe shed them one last time. Likewise, the greenery in the background will come and go until one day, it doesn’t come back.

If the pagoda outlasts humanity, is it still a pagoda without anyone to perceive it as one? Regardless, it will crumble and collapse one day. Entropy, explosion, or the end of the world could be some of its possible downfalls.

The blue sky of the day will either make way for clouds or the darkness brought about by the sunset. Obscured by clouds or not, the sun will rise again the next morning, until it never does again. The sun will end, and so will the earth.

I will end. You will end. Everything we love and care about will end. Everything is changing constantly. The serendipity of the bird in the shot was ephemeral and far from everlasting, and so is everything and everyone else.

In some way, however great or small, everything and everyone is changing in every moment, including me and you. In the few seconds it took me to write the last three words, some of my trillions of body cells will have died and been replaced with new ones, and so will have yours. My body, mind, ideas, and feelings, are ever changing, and so are yours.

Don’t grasp at moments. Enjoy them as they come and go because before you know it, they’ll be gone, and so will we. Be present, and fill the moment with joy for you and everyone else.