DUST

5/26/2020

Microscopic remnants of former, planet Earth life, these atmospheric hitchhikers are caught in a perpetual state of either traveling or taking up a temporary residence on your mantle or TV screen. Contained within this nondescript, bundle of gray life cake is a recipe that can include minerals, textile and paper fibers, plant pollen, mammalian hairs and dead skin cells, along with some burnt meteorite particles and other assorted junk. These ingredients, can at times, coagulate into larger ‘beings’ known as dust bunnies. These inert, former lifeforms are like the human body: they organize themselves into a structure that serves a purpose. The minerals and meteorite particle are like the calcium in our bones. They give it firmness and form. The plant pollen gives it an aroma that usually induces a sneeze. This will propel it to another location, just like our arms and legs carry our bodies horizontally and vertically to another environment. The fibers and other assorted junk are our organs and body mass. They add to a recognizable form that serves a purpose, although most of the time, others cannot see what it is. However, it is the former remnants of mammal cells that gives it identity. Applying the laws of thermodynamics, that energy cannot be created or destroyed, the human life form that exuded energy when they were alive, is now at a different state and is present in that dust bunny. Laying under your bed could be Genghis Kahn, Julius Caesar, or Alexander the Great. Stuck to your TV might be Albert Einstein, Galileo Galilei, or Isaac Newton. At the same time, your bathroom mirror might be sporting a morsel, or ten, of Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, or Jeffrey Dahmer. We are descendants of stardust and the arrow of time points to our demise.  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. With a little luck, your wish to travel to other planets may come true. Your ‘stardust bunny’ debris may get stuck to the inside of a viewing port on an intergalactic transporter of the future.