The Biography of a Hydrogen Atom (or The Biography of You)
See,
Hydrogen atoms started at the beginning of everything,
At the base of the Big Bang,
Created inside of a star.
There, at the core,
They sat until something miraculous happened-
Pushed by the hot gas inside of the star,
They were launched from the center to the edge.
It reached the corona and kept travelling-
Through the Chromospheres and the Photosphere,
Sailing through space on a coronal loop.
One hydrogen atom could have collided with Earth
To become air, fire, earth, or water.
It could have become anything.
It had the potential to become everything.
It wandered from matter to matter,
Constantly colliding with other atoms
To become something more than just another atom.
One atom could make all the difference
Between light and dark.
But that isn’t the point.
The point is this-
You are made of atoms that have existed
Since the very beginning of time,
Which means you have existed since the beginning of time.
Don’t you see?
Those atoms that I’ve been trying to explain,
You are a whole bunch of them,
Organized in such a way
That your heart beats
And your eyes see
And your ears hear
And I don’t think you understand that you are anomalous.
Yes, I see your look of confusion at that word.
Anomalous.
Of all the things I’ve told you,
You’re stuck on that word.
If you’re going to be stuck on something,
Be stuck on this-
You are literally made out of star dust
That was created billions of years ago
And you do not stop changing.
Ever.
So if you ever wonder if you mean something,
Remember that you are literally made from everything
And that everything means something.
If you ever wonder,
The answer to that question will always be yes.
You mean everything.
At least to me.
-e.a.