Yesterday or Tomorrow?
The past is the only future we can truly know and, unfortunately, there is so much about our past we will never know.
“Do you think one day, I mean like centuries from now, somewhere, some group of intelligent beings are going to sit around and speculate about us, the way we speculate about, say, dinosaurs?”
I looked at See-unk like he was crazy. “What you mean ‘we’? You been outside too much. Besides, what makes you think that life has to be intelligent, talking, philosophizing, etc.? You know what I’m saying? I think it’s a human conceit to think that “intelligent” life is the only life that counts. What about trees? Or roaches, for that matter? Or algae? Or amoebas?”
“See, that’s the problem with asking you a simple question. Can’t nothing ever be like: ‘yeah’ or straight up, ‘no.’ Or for that matter, not even a simple ass, ‘maybe.’ Noooo, with you, everything got to be complicated, complex, full of conditionals and wrinkles and shit.
“Well, who else would be thinking about long-gone dinosaurs except somebody who is complex?”
* * *
—kalamu ya salaam