Under The Stars
“If you think about it, each one of those is a setting sun,” said Diana, as she gazed out over the waters of the river and up at the night sky.
“Yeah,” Jonas said. He paused for a moment, then stated, “I can't remember it ever bein' this starry before.” He figured he had been insightful enough and went silent.
“Look at the streaks of light on the water. Aren't they like bars? Like on a jail cell?” she asked. Diana continued when there was no response. “It's like the fish are trapped by those bars of light...if we could just get rid of that row of houses...the sky and the water would meet, and the fish could be free. I imagine, to them, it looks a lot like our sky.” She paused. “The stars are like the bars on our jail cell - just farther in between.”
“You've always been a dreamer.”
“Though we look at them more as beacons than barricades, I suppose. The sky is more like a blanket that keeps us warm than a wall that keeps us in.” Seeing that Jonas had no interest in the topic, she asked, “Do you ever feel horribly insignificant?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well look at the sky-” she said, as she stared upward, “each of those stars probably has planets just like this one. And we're only seeing a tiny fraction of the stars in the universe. This rock we're on could be destroyed in an instant, and the rest of the cosmos wouldn't even notice. Don't you feel a bit small, and pathetic?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“What would be the point in that?”
“Well there wouldn't have to be a point in it. It would just be how you felt.”
“But what's the point in feeling small if there's nothing I can do about it?” Jonas retorted. Diana realized that he had stumbled onto something spectacular.
“You're completely right,” Diana said. She missed Jonas's triumphant smile as she stare vacantly into the heavens. “If we are unavoidably insignificant, then there has to be some other purpose for all of this.”
“All of what?”
“Our lives. What would be the point in existing if what we did had so small of an effect overall? Even our entire planet's effect on the universe is negligible. My life has to have some sort of great importance that I'm not yet aware of. Maybe this whole world was created for me, and I'm supposed to prove myself, or figure something out. It could be that you do not exist, except for me.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“I'm just saying - maybe each of us is more important than the world would like us to believe.”
“I hope you'll start thinking like that - you haven't been very happy, lately.”
“I don't think I have a choice.”
This story was inspired by this painting.