Sunsets and Explosions

Over a century ago, a volcano just east of Java in the Sundra strait exploded, generating a tsunami that would kill almost 40,000 people and leave millions more homeless. On the other side of the world, North America was presented with the most brilliant sunsets in recorded history. Thinking the blazing sky was actually a blazing fire, firemen were dispatched to quench the flames. But after the panic settled, nations emerged to view the strokes of reds, oranges and purples billowing across the dusk sky, and thought the earth was blessed. The delay in communication prevented Americans from learning of the destruction taking place on the earth that they shared with so many others, so they enjoyed nature's display, the sunset resulting from the same explosion that killed thousands.

When I wake up in the morning, I enjoy a split second of blissful ignorance, the delay between my body's waking up and my brain's registering the events of my life. For a brief moment, evil and sadness don't exist. And then I wake up, and see the world as it is, the complete mixture of beauty and good, and wickedness and hurt. And I'm happier, because I'm aware. Because I see it all, and am still moving on.