19 Hannah Freibert

Hannah, if you stare at the sun long enough, you're going to go blind.

As a wee lass, my family road tripped often, and this was the constant reminder I received from my mother. Now, of course, I'm aware that I will not truly lose my sight from looking out the car window at our host star. But there is something undeniably appealing about the sun. I know that its brightness is more than my eyes can handle. It feels closer than it is. Each time I caved in to this urge, though, I withdrew my eyes with gaping black hazes spotted around my field of vision. For the following several minutes I'd be forced to sit in a sort of involuntary daze, trying to regain my normal vision but having instead to wait it out. In the time I spent staring at the sun, I sacrificed the privilege to exist in the world around me. Obviously, I didn't think all of this through after just 6 years on this earth, but I note that as I age it becomes more applicable. I suppose it can be bent to fit the other cliches- "live in the moment" and shit. If you focus on the distant, fantasized ending, you forfeit the ability to be. Trite as it may be, we shouldn't live each day waiting for tomorrow.