Writing Competition 3rd Place: Jonas Nabbe

We present the third place submission to the Writing Competition: a short, thought-provoking piece with the future in mind by Jonas Nabbe...

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“Those Sleepless Ones

Bless those sleepless ones; bless those over-thinkers; bless the worrisome. One that seeks to worry only has to look around. Of unsettling trends and occurrences there is no lack. Climate change might extinguish all life as we know it, inequality is far from solved, and we are nowhere nearer to world peace. The list continues...

Meanwhile, nothing seems to change. We live our lives as we have always done. Solely occupied with our individual affairs we live our days. What happened to our world-view? I was told we were so globalized? 

When our window of perception fits into our pockets, it becomes all too easy to live happily; just live in the now! Ignore all of those around you! You do not need that kind of negativity. As long as you make sure to fill your belly and get your likes, life isn't all that bad. Shame on those passivists, who live in tiny tiny worlds where nothing moves and nothing changes. At least they feel some safety in their unexplored potential, which they will take into their graves. 

Do not misunderstand me, I do not pledge for pessimism, as life is filled with beauty and good. I simply want to express my gratitude for the ones that worry. For it are exactly those that lie awake at night that embrace the possibility of change. That, once they get out of bed, will fight for a better world. Not just for themselves, but also for the ones that live on their own world, that ‘live in the now’. Because they too wish to live tomorrow.

So bless these worries, anxieties and anguish. It are only those sleepless ones that live with the future in mind.”

- Jonas