Be careful what we wish for…
Original DDE™ art: “Waiting” — by: rob kistner © 3/16/26
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The therapies worked. Cells renewed themselves. Organs regenerated. Memory backups lived in quiet servers beneath mountains. People stopped dying the way people once had. Time stretched outward like an endless road disappearing into desert heat.
But Elias had begun to notice something. Immortality did not feel like forever. It felt like waiting. Waiting for meaning. Waiting for the next century to feel different from the last.
He walked every morning along the ocean, watching waves repeat their ancient labor. The tide did not worry about forever. It simply arrived. Children still played in the surf, shrieking at cold water. Lovers still leaned against the railing, speaking softly as dusk gathered.
Life, he realized, had not changed. Only the fear disapated. The great human project had been to defeat ‘scary’ death. But no one had solved the quieter problem that followed. What to do with eternity.
Perhaps forever had never been the point. Perhaps the secret was what the waves had always known: that living—truly living—was not about escaping the end. It was about filling the moment so completely that forever was no longer required. He always thought eternity was the sacred goal. What fools we humans have been
Elias picked up his journal and began writing. “Happiness — it all belies our existence; we wait, and are still denied.”
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rob kistner © 03/16/26
I loved this line “Perhaps forever had never been the point. Perhaps the secret was what the waves had always known: that living—truly living—was not about escaping the end. It was about filling the moment so completely that forever was no longer required. ”
This reminds me of the Tralfamadorians in Voneegut’s book Slaughterhouse 5 that focus on the quality of individual moments rather than the chronological flow or quantity of time where each moment is self-contained and eternal. Great job with the prompt!
Thank you Cara. Love me some Kurt. We are all strangers in a strange land… 🙂 Lately I have been thinking a lot about quantity of life compared to quality. I am ready to go.
A very thoughtful piece, Rob! Yes, it’s the living not living forever.
That has been strong in my thoughts this past year Merril. I am ready to go see what’s next.
Oh, this is great, Rob. Such interesting thoughts on eternity. If the joy is in the journey why would we want to stop in one place forever!! ??
Hi Dwight. Nice to have you stop on by my friend — I enjoy your visits. Yeah thank you for your compliment on the piece here. The whole idea of eternity, well I guess since I’ve been really sick this last year I don’t, I mean, it just strikes me as how very difficult and boring if you were to live forever, I mean, how many times can you do something until it’s like OK what’s next? Iam certsinly ready to go. Not in a negative bummer way — I just wanna know what might be next… ?? Whatever it is I hope there’s action — or I’ll go stir crazy.