The Optimist And The Pessimist

The snowflakes gently fall upon my face. I stick my hands deeper into my pockets. I observe my breath in the air. The world is calm. So very calm. And quiet. What a coincidence. I sit in the snow and look up at the sky. It's gray. Can the world feel my pain? Does it understand the sadness I feel in my heart?

Then tears. They flow continuously down my face. With each drop, I feel my cheeks burn as the icy air reacts with the moisture. Getting up I fall down again. My knees feel weak, so very weak. A bird passes overhead. A cat wanders across the street. The world doesn't stop, it keeps moving. Always moving. A sunken ship. A flower wilting. A star exploding. "If all things eventually stop existing then why exist in the first place," I say to myself out loud.

"We exist to live." I look up. Above me stands a stranger. "Although it may sound far-fetched to me the meaning of life is to live. To live as happily as we can. To enjoy it all." I interrupt him "But we'll all die anyway. Why even bother?" The stranger looks up at the sky as if he's thinking deeply about his answer. Then he speaks "If you didn't exist would you have met the people that you met? Or seen the things that you've seen? We all die. Our loved ones die but aren't you at the very least glad that you met them." The snow stopped falling. The stranger walked away. The wind stopped blowing. The water stopped flowing and the sky stood still. And for a second, just for a second, the world stood still.