So many times has it been said that one wishes to live in another time- either long past or yet to be. There is nothing wrong with living in one's head, nothing wrong with imagining life in another era- but one must not forget that the time one lives in is one's time; it is the time that one is acclimatized to; it is the time with everything one relies on- even that that one does not know of. This is the time that gives one joy and challenge. How often have we looked at history and thought of how we would have reacted? And yet we spend time thinking about that instead of reacting to what is happening now? How many times have we thought about how much fun it would be to experience something in a by-gone era when we do not even make time to appreciate what is now?
Our time is now! Now is what we have and now is what we must enjoy! Now is what we must change! Now is what we must rise up to! We live in the 21st century and despite what anyone may say, this is our canvas; this is our part of the future's history books. This is when we will be remembered for. If one comes across documents or artifacts dated to now, they will use them to evaluate us. This is a scary concept at times, but it also presents a world of opportunity. It also means that we have the opportunity to be remembered as individuals, not just a collective society. We have all sorts of communication that people did not have centuries ago. We have the ability to express ourselves in ways that reach many people- both those we know and those we don't know. We can leave our own legacy.
We can also live our lives to the fullest; we can share what makes us happy and communicate what we have problems with. We are human and know we have the opportunity to share what makes us so. However, with great power comes great responsibility and we must remember that we have no control over what is uncovered and what is not- we do not want our worst selves to be recalled centuries today. But, we must maintain a fine balance; we do not want to come across as people who were too afraid to live because we are not afraid to be human. We live and breathe reality; we know that we must live our lives. We have been exposed to the world in a way that was not possible before. We can access information, truth, reality.... There is joy in this, but also responsibility. We have the responsibility to use what we know. "You can choose to look the other way, but you can never again say you did not know." There is truth in that quote. We must act on what we know But to act we must know. We cannot make decisions based solely on ignorance because we do not have to be ignorant. People never did. Information could always be found, but now, for many of us, it literally is at our fingertips. We must gather as much as we can and then act. And knowing is a proactive process; we must actively seek knowledge. We cannot know without acting and we cannot act without knowing.
We must not remain quiet. We must look at the world and see ourselves as a part of it, not apart of it. We must think about what this is and what we want it to be. We must be change history because we will undoubtedly be a part of it. We will be remembered as those who allowed the 21st century to happen- whatever that will mean. If it means paving the way for prosperity, then that will be how history looks back on us. If that means, sitting idly by and letting the world fall apart, then that will be our legacy. If that means speaking for who we are no matter what, then that will be who we will be. If that means fighting our own battles, standing up in our own ways, then that is who we will be. We do not get to choose what everyone else will do; we only get to decide what we, ourselves, will do. And if all of choose to do what will be best for the world, then we will change it, infinitesimally perhaps, but the universe is made of an infinite infinitesimal parts. And perhaps we fill infinitely change it. We do not know. But we know what we want to, what we will do. And that is more than enough- if only we do.
Finally, this is our time to live. This is our time to live and breathe and enjoy and act. This is our time to change history. This is our one and only chance. This is who we will be remembered as. This is who we are. And there is nothing better than that. This is sweet and bitter and true. Most of all, this is the truth, the cold hard truth. This is us. And this can be good or bad, this can be destruction or construction; this can be anything. All that is certain is that this is our time. The rest is up to us.
