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VOICES September 2024

Once we were an earthling. Cherishing the simplest moment came together with breathing.  We would open our eyes and smile to the sun tickling our cheek through the window or greet the rain knocking gently on the windowsill. Having a coffee with a tint of milk or a fruit tea in the cosiest place at the corner of our street. Watching people passing by, noticing someone’s shoes with bright-red laces or electrifying purple pants of that teen living next door to us. Casually, we would chat with an old lady sitting next to us on the bus, because we both spotted the poster, placed on the window, inviting us to visit the newest gallery in town. The air was full of sensations for our noses as we were walking by. Bubblegum from the candy store, freshly cut grass, waffles sprinkled with chocolate, roasted chestnuts… We would put the tips of our toes in the stream crossing the nearby park, just to sense how cold the water is today. And maybe we would hear distant children’s laughter as they were splashing each other with cold water with their small hands allowing them only to catch a few drops from the stream. We would read the book and rush to share the details with that one friend who already finished it last week. Maybe even write a few lines in the pocket notebook that keeps our most creative sentences and ideas. Once we would truly cherish all of these little things. But it was when we were just an earthling. Now we are an earthling with a phone, a computer and a TV, and we like to juggle with them. And what the world needs now is our past earthlings sending a message to our present earthlings, starting with the simplest: “Hi, what color is your day today?”

Ewelina Chańska