All the little wonders

*This was supposed to be written Sunday*

4. What gets you excited about life?

In one word, discovery. I love how we, as humans, have discovered so much and yet at the same time we haven't even begun to scratch the surface. We constantly strive to learn more, and every day someone out there is making some type of discovery, be it a small one or one that will change the world. It's just so weird and mind blowing to think about all the things we, as the human race, have discovered and created since we have existed. 

Right now, I'm chewing gum. Most will probably wonder how a piece of gum could be interesting. For me, it's thinking that some one out there either discovered this material by mistake, or they activity set out to create it. Either may, this yummy and chewy invention wasn't something we can just plant and have, someone had to discover a material, flavor it, and add or omit things to make it what it is today. We can chew it for enjoyment or to cover up our bad breath, it can whiten our teeth or stain our mouths for fun. When I try to explain this thought to people, they either don't understand or don't care. I wish I was better at explaining why simple things actually aren't so simple when you think about it, and I mean really think about it. 

There is this scene in the move American Beauty where one of the characters is practically orgasming over a plastic bag floating in the wind. He goes on about how beautiful it is, and how God is speaking to him about it. Although the scene was meant to be serious, most people laugh at it and say it's a very stupid scene. 

While I do think the movie as a whole is pretty lame, I think I understood what the character was saying. He was saying that it may just be a piece of plastic floating around in the wind, but when you stop and really think about it, there is nothing 'simple' about wind and there is nothing simple about plastic. Wind is a force we can't see, yet it does have mass and it takes up space, it's just too small for our inferior eyes to see. Plastic is something man made out oil. Plastic is something that we use for everyday uses, be it something as simple is a plastic bag to something life saying such as a pace-maker. Perhaps what the character was really driving at was that, wind is something we know of but don't really understand how complex it is, and a plastic bag is something we all use without thinking yet it took humans many years to discover invent it.

Does that make sense? I've never been good at articulating what I'm thinking or feeling for most things. Sometimes I just get so overwhelmed when I stop and contemplate about how amazing this world is and how far we've come. Especially since the Internet, it seems like we're discovering things at an even faster rate. It's awesome.