Nothing

I spend most of my nights laying in bed, my body caught in the state between sleep and consciousness.  Though I’m worn from a long lay of studies, my eyes remain open, traversing across the cracks in my ceiling.  This period deprives me of some much needed sleep, but is valuable to me nevertheless.  My physical senses dampened by darkness, my mind is free to wander.  Sometimes my thoughts lead into intimate inquiries- how do I look from another person’s vantage point?  How did I do on the test?  Did I leave the stove on?  In other instances my thoughts revolve around more philosophical questions- does God exist?  What is my purpose in this life?  Is someone else in the world laying in bed just as I am, mirroring my thoughts?  As I close my eyes, the questions still buzz around my head like static.  I find peace in the silence that comes from answering each question.

Unfortunately, people in our society don’t question their surroundings and ideals as they should.  From an early age, we’re taught to accept information handed down to us as “fact”.  In school, we’re trained to copy information right of a textbook then spew it right back out come time for exams.  Anyone who questions the curriculum is removed for reducing the efficiency of the machine that is the educational system.  In eighth grade, a fellow student of mine was sent to the principal’s office because she refused to partake in a lecture about Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.  Students such as her were labeled as “problem children”, discouraging any other students from challenging academic standards.

Society itself prevents us from asking questions.  Civilization operates as a whole- trends are adopted, and society members are expected to incorporate it into their busy lives.  Those that do question them are outcast by the rest of society.

But what is the cost of not asking questions?  Without Galileo, the common notion that the earth was flat would have remained centuries later.  The Wright brothers proved that humans could fly, even as their peers laughed at the notion.  Segregation might still be an issue today, had it not been for Martin Luther King Jr.  When an individual asks questions, mankind benefits as a whole.

Back in my own bed, I laugh at the absurd notion.  Mankind as a whole?  That must sound so silly to everyone else.  I turn on my side and fall asleep.