Insignificant. (1115 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: uberbook
Rating: 2 on 29 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Bigmike (View user info) at 2005-08-29 20:16:48 EDT
"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn't."
— Mark Twain
Jack stood outside in his driveway. The night was hot, sizzling hot and he was just looking for a way to cool his jets and ease the flow of sweat from his brow. He had become fatigued from the heat inside the house even though the windows were all flung wide open and the fans were running non-stop. It was a record setting summer for heat and its effects had Jack spending quite a few moments outside in his driveway in the middle of the night.
After a few days of this, the heat wasn't the only thing that had him coming out to share a smoke with the crickets. As he reached into his chest pocket to pull out his Camels, his head turned upward to gaze at the infinity of creation. The night was clear and the sky was standing room only as the stars fought for their positions, their backdrop and endless tapestry of black.
That's when he saw it.
An easy white glow traveling in a weave across the heavens. A ribbon of soft light formed by millions of stars bunching up, a synergy in the night sky.
He tried to remember his grade school astronomy as he looked up. He thought of the solar system. One grouping of planets, nine in all, revolving around a minor star. He thought he had heard of there being a tenth planet, but he didn't pay all that much attention when he had heard it being discussed. He thought of our solar system being a member of a galaxy, the Milky Way. He asked himself if this could be it. If this could be the Milky Way he was seeing. He wasn't sure but he thought that it was.
The sheer magnitude of that hazy, luminous band making its way across the night sky caused Jack to walk over to the patio furniture he had set up on his front lawn, grab a chair, and ease down into it. The sweat on his brow had been forgotten. The intense heat inside the house was only but a memory. Jack was gazing up at infinity defined. His life was beginning to take a different place his mind. He looked at, no, stared at the band in the sky and a thought crossed his mind.
How big is that thing?
He then looked around at his yard. He took a quick glance at his house. He got up and walked to the end of his driveway and looked down the road both ways. He thought about the time he spent driving to work, all the miles he covered on a daily basis. He thought about how he had felt after driving from his modest accomodation in New York State to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for a wedding once. He remembered how long it had taken and how many miles he had covered. He remembered feeling so very far from home as he thought about the expanse of highway he had covered to get there. Now he was looking up at the sky once again and wondering.
Just then a car came careening up his road, passing him as he stood there stargazing. Its headlights broke him of the spell that the night sky had cast over him and he rushed up the driveway and into his house. He could feel the oppressive heat threatening to engulf him as he ran over to his desk and sat down. Grabbing a pen and a sheet of crisp, white paper, he jotted down these words:
"Somewhere at the end of a spiral arm, located in a huge galaxy, floating in an even larger universe, there is a solar system. This solar system is by no means small and yet, it is in relation to the rest of what is out there. The galaxy is but a pinprick in the fabric of the universe and so this solar system is but a blemish on the surface of that pinprick. There is a single cell located on this blemish that is the planet we live on, Earth. There is a microscopic portion of this single cell Earth barely discernable to anybody, that I call home. I am but a very minute organism inhabiting this microscopic portion, swinging around on this blemish, somewhere inside this pinprick. Right now I am feeling very overwhelmed, alone, and insignificant."
He picked the paper up and read what he had written carefully. Nodding his head, he set it back down on the desk and got up. He headed down the hallway of his home, switching off lights as he went. He reached his bedroom, got undressed, laid down in bed, and turned off the light that was burning on his nightstand. He thought about each of these actions as he did them. Thought about how utterly small each and every one of them was. Then he closed his eyes wondering if he would actually get up tomorrow morning and get to work without going completely and undeniably insane.
User Reviews
Submitted by AlexorGM (user info) at 2006-02-01 18:57:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
ok. i <3 you
Submitted by AlexorGM (user info) at 2006-01-28 18:57:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Aiya (user info) at 2005-12-21 18:07:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by AlexorGM (user info) at 2005-12-12 19:55:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
this is so underrated.
Submitted by DanielH (user info) at 2005-09-13 03:13:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great to get my Big Mike fix, been too long. This character thinks a lot like I do, I ponder and toss over a million such thoughts, and curse sleep, since it interrupts me like a donkey punch during sex. +++
Submitted by AlexorGM (user info) at 2005-09-12 23:01:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i just read this again.
it reminds me of american beauty.
actually, what made me read this again is i was laying down in bed, and i saw through my window a star.. just one. it reminded me of this..
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-08-30 20:07:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by FartSmeller (user info) at 2005-08-30 12:02:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You. You're good, you.
Submitted by firefly (user info) at 2005-08-30 11:36:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2005-08-30 11:16:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2005-08-30 09:35:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I used to think myself into paralysis over the concept of the infinite universe and human insignificance. But then, one day, I realized something.
Submitted by MANICMOTHER (user info) at 2005-08-30 09:34:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2005-08-30 09:27:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2005-08-30 07:14:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You know I never liked that whole 'the universe is so huge and you're so tiny and crap' idea. It's cruel and gives a false sense of meaningless to our actions.
I'm guessing that's the point of the post. Well, it is for me at any rate.
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2005-08-30 06:18:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Very good stuff here Mike.
And its a goddamn shame that the 2 posts below this have more reviews than this...
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2005-08-30 05:11:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
too short.
Submitted by forthewin (user info) at 2005-08-29 23:50:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
An old topic and it was still amazingly good. Bigmike is teh awesomeness.
Submitted by knucklesnelson (user info) at 2005-08-29 21:39:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
:)
Submitted by satchel (user info) at 2005-08-29 21:18:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was really lovely.
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:59:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
yeah....very nice.
Submitted by TheGirlWithoutATitle (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:55:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:52:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Off_The_Wagon (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:23:02 (#)
Ranking: 2
I'd be depressed, if i didn't know that my neighbor was as useless to this world as anyone. Knowing you're all utterly unimportant makes living with that knowledge strangely satisfying.
Teeheehee. Pretty much. So, uhm, yeah... DoaM? PLEASE???
This was cool, by the way.
Submitted by Insanethemind (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:46:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You are a true wordsmith.
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:30:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:22:44 (#)
Ranking: 2
You know, I was actually feeling quite uplifted by this post until the final paragraph.
Is this the start of another serial killer series, perchance?
You know, that's not a bad idea Z. I don't think it's going to happen though. I need to finish the other one first. I'm working on some of it, but it's taking me awhile to get motivated.
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:28:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:23:10 (#)
Ranking: 2
Jesus, you don't know what italics can do for a story until you see something like this.
wow.
No shit rad. You're the coolest, by the way.
Submitted by AlexorGM (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:26:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
it makes you wonder..
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:23:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Jesus, you don't know what italics can do for a story until you see something like this.
wow.
Submitted by Off_The_Wagon (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:23:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'd be depressed, if i didn't know that my neighbor was as useless to this world as anyone. Knowing you're all utterly unimportant makes living with that knowledge strangely satisfying.
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-08-29 20:22:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You know, I was actually feeling quite uplifted by this post until the final paragraph.
Is this the start of another serial killer series, perchance?