What a Wonderful World

The very first time I read a chapter book, I remember feeling distinctly amazed. The book had surpassed all of my expectations – not because it had a superior storyline or really deep characters by any means (after all, it was the ‘Magic Ballerina’ series). No, instead, I felt blown away just because I could not fathom for the life of me how in the world someone had managed to create an entirely fictitious world. That is one of the things that amaze me most about humans – we are so incredible in our ability to not just learn, but to think. The very fact that we can imagine and create entirely new worlds, universes, and peoples out of thin air is, I think, a sign of humanity’s remarkableness. Whenever I’m feeling down, this fact reminds me of the infinite possibilities of life.

Now, I’m an atheist, and I am aware that some people (like Oprah, for example) feel like that takes the wonder out of life. I myself first felt such a deep disappointment when I was around eight years old – the music video for ‘California Girls’ by Katy Perry came out, and I immediately thought ‘wow, I want to go to California!’; I was elated and unquestioning of the existence of a world with cotton-candy trees and Snoop Dogg for a God. Then, my sister broke the truth to me – such worlds didn’t and couldn’t exist. That was one of my defining moments: I realised that, if such worlds didn’t exist, why would God? However, after that, I read a collection of letters from a Chinese immigrant about his love for California, for her valleys, waterfalls and blue skies (don’t ask me where I found that). It struck me then, knowing the truth about the state’s dismaying normalcy, that normal trees and just nature might be more wonderful than I’d initially imagined. That’s why I think Oprah is wrong. Life can be and is wonderful even without a divine being to rule over it. I think that the whole point of death is for it to eliminate life. And I am perfectly content with this, because everyday I am blown away by the magnificent potential of life, of people. I mean, how is it possible that we invented languages? Learned a language as babies, with no reference point whatsoever?

It might be naïve of me to believe most people to be inherently good. I think it makes perfect sense. Yes, we are sometimes driven by selfish or malicious intent, but the rest of the time, we are motivated by a desire to ‘be the good we see in the world’, to be noble and proud of ourselves (unless we are pathologically unable to do so, in which case we should seek psychological help). Nobody really wants to benefit from things without deserving them, as is shown by our ability to feel guilt and remorse. This is evident even in Christianity, which often purports that we are sinful and shameful beings. The best-known example of this is the seventh verse of the sixth chapter of the Book of Galatians in the Bible, which states ‘whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap’. I know that the world is especially hard for some people out there, e.g.: Saudi Arabian homosexuals, the oppressed people of North Korea, and, last and never least, the well-known Starving Children in Africa. I also know that there are always good people trying to help those in need: non-profit organisations, created by groups of averagely- and genuinely-kind people, which save lives every day, helping refugees and sending food to strangers. This is proof enough to me that people are better than we think, and it inspires me to be better.