Being

I awoke this morning from a typically bizarre "just before waking" dream. I rolled from my side onto my back, and my cat climbed up on my lap and settled herself down. I lay there massaging the scruff of her neck, and let my mind float while I waited for the rest of my family to rouse themselves despite Daylight Saving Time.

As I am wont to do, I began to think about God, Nature, and Free Will. I once again considered the miracle of existence, and how the chance joining of two infinitely small cells becomes an infinitely complex and unique human being.

A being, who through the power of it's brain, harnessed fire, invented the wheel, forged iron into steel, split the atom, walked on the moon, looked back to the beginning of time, and gazed into the farthest reaches of the universe.

A being able to feel love, hate, greed, compassion, jealousy, friendship, grief, elation, fear, and hope.

A being that creates great art, music, and literature from the depths of its soul.

A being of overwhelming beauty, and unbounded ugliness.

A being capable of profound acts of bravery, and inconceivable acts of depravity.

A being able to communicate the mathematical language of the stars, and articulate the deepest nuances of the psyche.

A being that laughs, cries, and is aware of its own mortality.

A being that asks, Why?