Cumulosophy

Since I was a child until now, watching the clouds has always been a pleasure for me. Even after learning the basic principles of meteorology, I still believe that there is magic in the way clouds form their shapes and sizes and in the way they take their colors. I think that never anymore will I be able to outgrow the amazement and wonder that I feel everytime I look up the sky and see those fluffy, white, cottonlike, cute creations of God. Maybe this is why when I was a child, it had been my dream to fly up in the sky and lie on those clouds like Peter Pan did. Oh, the sweet memories of childhood.

 

Now that I'm old, I still find contemplating the clouds enjoyable, or even more, meditative. I can't believe that those cute stuffs in the sky have actually taught me many things in life. They taught me that my life is actually as transient, transitory, fragile, and mutable as they are. Additionally, in the same way that a solitary, small fragment of cloud is usually uninteresting unless it becomes a part of a bigger whole, my life will also become meaningless when lived alone and isolated from the people around me, especially those who love me and whom I love. My life now as youth can actually be represented by those white, cottonlike clouds and as I grow old, the change can also be symbolized by the orange-violet clouds at dusk. Obviously, our cloud's color becomes darker as we age. Nevertheless, because of the experiences that we amass as we grow old, our cloud actually becomes more colorful as it changes from white to yellow, then orange, then red, and finally until it mixes with the color of the night. That's what actually life is.

 

Most importantly, I learned that it is only I who decides the form, shape, and size of my cloud. And just as the clouds are made to be just what they should be and to do just what they should do, I'm here just to live my life as what life should be.

 

10.22.09