Sunsets: A Reflection on the Passage of Time

I vaguely remember seeing a beautiful sunset one fateful evening and being surprised by the fear and dread that had filled me at the sight. It was strange, the way I did not hold a hint of the usual awe I had at nature’s beauty. But how could I be in awe? The days to my GCSE crawled, walked and ran towards me. Each day falls and we are pushed further into the rush of time’s river that begins to feel like a cascading waterfall. The slow fall of the sun seemed to echo the ticking of clocks, and I was afraid- of the world I would collide with and the uncertain future that lay ahead.

We as humans naturally fear the passage of time. An innate instinct born out of survival. There were days when caveman counted down to their deaths, but this has shifted towards fear of growing up. The unpredictability of society’s development makes me question all I have achieved in the past, all I am doing in the present, and all I am planning in the future. But I am hopeless against the giants of time and fate. Whether it snips my threads of existence or intertwines me with gold, I cannot control it.

So why not harness that fear into an appreciation of our world?

I’d like to live each day as the epitome of joy, the paragon of happiness. Head held high and heart filled up. Where does satisfaction derive from if not from ourselves? The sun will continue to set and rise in an endless cycle just as we live another day after the next one. Perhaps one day the sun would set and never rise, one day our time would be stolen by Death, but until then I would like to live each one as if I stole it from Death itself.

Time is in a constant state of flux and I’ll travel down its winding path looking for the next curve, the next turn. The sun rises with the world reborn anew, lighting the skies with bright colors. And it sets the very same way. Look at the colours with love. If not for this vibrancy, would the world not just be that same monochromatic shades? Don’t fear the passage of time, don’t fear the sunset. It is beautiful. It is a reminder. A memory. A promise.

The world revolves around the sun just as the sun guards our world. It disappears to greet the other side yet even then it hovers as a silent sentinel - reflecting as the light of the crescent moon to lighten our world. It leaves to give us a time of reflection, allowing us to find solace in the darkness and comfort in the blanket of monotone.  The night might hide the wonders of our world but it does the same to hide atrocities as well. To appreciate colors we must also be reminded of the dreariness in its absence. That’s what a sunset is for. 

A sunset might seem daunting and draw in emotions of fear at the inevitable end it symbolizes. But it can be a comfort. A comfort for those bad days that just don’t seem to be working well, they are the harbinger of a new opportunity, a past forgiven, a perspective shifted as one awakes to a new day and a new beginning. Don’t be afraid to watch the sunset. Though time is passing, that’s the beauty of it. Each ray emitted caresses us gently, glazing us with warm gold and gilding the world. A sunset is a kiss from a lover, a painter that lights the sky in a canvas of beauty, a letter from a passed one, a memory of time, a hope of the future. 

The end of the beginning; the beginning of the end.