Away, Watching the Sunrise

by William Jackson on 2004-09-07

Last night, right before I went to bed, I got a brilliant idea for something to write about this morning. I looked at my Buddy List and quickly calculated that 70% of the people who were online had an away message set. I thought to myself, “I used to do that. Now I just shut the program off when I go somewhere, for example, to bed.” So I shut the program off, logged off of my computer and went to bed.

In the final moments of awakedness I was already planning and proofing my paragraphs of social commentary and wit. Iʼm online, but you canʼt talk to me. _insert something (preferrably witty) about the irony of away messages here_

Fortunately, I didnʼt. I was at the bus stop at 07:20 this morning, and I saw the sky. I saw the most beautiful sky, I knew that even if I had a camera worth a million billion dollars there was no way to capture the beauty, the energy, the color and the wonder of this morningʼs sky. Life is so full of wonder, there is no time to waste on pointless social commentary.

If ever a man were to paint a uniquely stunning sunrise only once a month his entire adult life I would be impressed beyond measure.

If I were to find someone who could do it every morning of every day for all eternity, I would worship him.