Tuesday, August 10, 2010

You are the 6000th visitor

Today when I plopped in my sample for mass spectrometry, the computer showed that I was the 6000th sample from my lab. Artificial fireworks flew across my screen, before real life sparklers going off beside the monitor, and the mass spectrometer playing a happy diddly. The technician comes by with a miniature cupcake with "Happy 6000th" icing and a blue candle.

....

Not really.

The machine just asked me for my sample name and expected mass. It was very anti-climatic in actuality. That's what happens when a special date or milestone was over-emphasized for ages, only to disappoint with mediocrity.

But then, why can't mediocrity be enough? Why do we strive for extraordinary things when the simple things in life pass us by without so much as a thought, much less the appreciation they deserves? Why can't we be happy that it's raining in the middle of summer? Or be excited that when we take out our pencil, and it's still sharpened? Why do we hold parades for all sorts of frivolous things, when we could be celebrating the fact that our breaths don't stink because of that pack of gum we found at the bottom of the couch cushion?

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