WHY? By: Sebastián Mejía
Today I woke up early. I drank a cup of coffee with a slice of toast while I read the paper. Why? I got into a cab I’d called since the day before and headed downtown. Why? When I got to my destination, I reorganized a stack of papers I had on my desk that were prepared to be evaluated. Why? The mahogany leaves of a nearby tree were caressed by the wind. Some torn from their roots, scattered on the pavement. I wonder why... Why do we get up in the morning to do so many things that could be considered banal, strange, absurd? Why do I put a rectangular shaped combination of yeast, flour and water in a geared machine to heat it? Then it spits out. It’s ready, as I am to do my morning tasks, but what about those? What’s so important about them? And why do we do all this in a place like this one, a rotating sphere that revolves around a gigantic bulb of light. A sphere that contains animals, trees, mahogany leaves, and a stark rough pavement. Human life is plunged into action by a variety of unique characteristics that distinguish humans from other species and drive them to progress, innovation, and success.
28 *
These characteristics stem from peoples’ rationality and strong capacity for emotions such as fear, love and hate; these converge in people’s perception of life, one that differs between each person. However, all of these perceptions connect in three aspects, we all long for love, we all wish we had more time, and we all fear death. These axioms become a drive for people’s lives, as they lead them to better themselves and to either follow the norm or break it while selecting their paths in life. Our perception of these ideas is what leads us to determine who we want to be and what we do to achieve it, which culminates in a goal and a life’s purpose, which, even though we are all affected by the same axioms, is ultimately determined by each person. Love is defined as an intense feeling of deep affection, which may be towards another person, a place, an animal, an object, or an idea. Love, along with hate, its antithesis is the emotion that drives people to connect with others, which is what has given humans the epithet of social beings. There are many different types of love, all with their different specificities. There is the love that one has towards their family, which is the first one that most people encounter, and it shapes who you are as a person. There is romantic love, which leads people to do the unimaginable, and there is also the love that one has for friends, which assimilates more with the
