Perseverance

Yes, but, what about now?

On February 18, 2021, we all stopped for a moment from our busy doings and looked up to the sky. All of us, proud and smiling, took a moment from our daily actions to read the great news on media, in the newspaper, listen to it on the radio, or, during a friendly phone call.

Nothing else. Everywhere, Perseverance was the undisputed lead not only for that day but also for the weeks to follow.

I myself searched and browsed through the many pages of the web to understand more, to discover and get a more detailed perspective on how far NASA had gone that day.

It’s such great news and having the media bombard every bit of TV channel available is not enough for us to actually realize it. It’s such a distant world, or maybe I should stick to the planet definition, but otherwise why not the world? NASA, once again, broadens our horizons and asks, and asks, even greater questions, impatiently challenging the limits of our curiosity.

What will we see this time? What will be the results, and what will we discover? Are we really ready to find out?

And as you read these lines, I hear the myriad of voices in your thoughts traveling frantically among the many questions, incessant and relentless.

Who bites their fingers, who plays with their glasses, who gently move their hair from one side to another.

Everyone. Everyone, with a lost look to questions now unanswered.

Everyone. Everyone is immersed in the great abyss of the frightening future still unknown to us.

While you’re wondering how many years from now, maybe, and if a man really will be able to create life on Mars, the clock hand continues its turn.
Imperceptible, goes on, Incurable.
We are truly excited about the progress.
So proud of scientific and technological advances,
So eager to throw ourselves headlong into the future,
That we don’t realize the seconds, minutes, and hours that the present is preciously giving us.

We look forward to growing, to moving forward in time, we just wonder what will happen tomorrow, in a year or 20,
When the present is actually getting out of hand.
We stand by the sea, a fist of sand in the palm of our hand, a gust of sudden wind, and what remains is a feeling now emptiness and uselessness.

There is no future without a present, and no matter how simple that statement is, it escapes our minds more often than it should. Every day we realize how much we can’t compete with time, that it travels on a nearby parallel line to us. We were born to give something to this world, to contribute in our own small unique way, to complete that great plan that, who knows, what will be.

We confront ourselves with many different human beings, we create and break relationships, we form memories, and decide to forget them. We set goals, challenges, and we take it so hard on ourselves even before we’ve achieved what we really need.

All we do is ask people for advice, the opinion of our friends when in reality we are only focused on our future projections of how things will go and we are already aware of the choice we will make. We’re so blind and stubborn that we let the voice of the present fade away, and for what? To create conjecture about a future that can depend on anything and everything. About a future, which in part, does depend on our present. Yes, that is, what we consciously or unconsciously choose to ignore.

It’s a matter of perspective, once again.

Remember that you are not "wasting time" listening to someone who is dedicating you excerpts of their present. You are just "earning" time.

Published on @OLTREURLO