The Setting Sun

Humans have always been fascinated with sunrises and sunsets. What's the reason, I wonder? Is it because of the sun's rays as it casts its light onto Mother Earth? Is it because of the way shadows are formed when objects are blocking it's rays. Or is because of the warm hues of the sunlight that generates a kind of warmth that touches the humans' hearts as they view the sunrises and sunsets?

Or maybe sunrises and sunrises represent the beginning and the end of life? As the sun rises, it gives energy and food for all living things, humans and plants alike. In so doing, it gives life to all things living. As the sun shines brighter, we can witness the animals and insects get busy forraging for food for their daily sustenance. Bees getting their honey from the flowers' stigmas, ants heaving food 30 times their weight as they soldier on throughout the day, humans of every creed working hard to put food on their table, mother birds feeding their young with worms caught in the early morning, and other types of animals who regurgitate to feed their young. Life is so wonderful, isn't it?

As the day extends into the evening, the sun set represents the later stage in life. Where the young get older and the elder one expire into the netherworld. As the sun sets, it casts a warm glow on mankind before succumbing the world to nightfall. It is this warmth of light that continues to fascinate the world of humans and animals. Some may sit in their garden as they appreciate the view that the sunset provides. Animals will return to their nests as they prepare for the next day. As this warm glow continue to fade away into darkness, it represents the end of the day. Humans and animals alike would return to their respective homes and nests and seek some solace in the quiet of night.

For some, it is easy to seek solace in the quiet of night. However, for some, it could be a challenge. New mums and dads would have to take turns to feed the baby, crying out his/her longing for milk to satisfy the hunger pangs. And that is if the dad manages to wake up at all. I'm sure many of you out there can empathise with this scenario. We have gone through it before. On the other hand, some of us may be working the afternoon or starting the night shift. As the body clocks struggles to catch up with the different levels of melatonin in our body in order to synchronise the sleeping hours, the shift workers would suffer insomnia if the body clock cannot somehow adjust to the difference in light levels. And for them, sunsets would not have any meaning for them, but sunrise will.

That's life. There's the ups and there's the downs. Before the sun sets too often and we begin to take it for granted that there's always another day's sunset to catch, we'd better be sober and do our best to do all the things that we wish or hope to do or achieve, and get on achieving the dreams instead of lounging in front of the idiot box that is the bane of technology, and wasting our life away. Before the next sunset, here's another little article about life...