No disease. No sadness. No crying yourself to sleep at night. No jealousy. No violence; no war. A summer that is never too hot, a winter never too cold. No hunger. No racism. No prejudice. Just people. People that fill every day with smiles, kindness and laughter. No animals in cages. No hierarchy of power. No working to live, living to work; just living. Countries that mingle like good neighbours, races that merge as friends. No borders, no passports, no need for one.
Just one earth; inhabited, cared for and free.
Utopia.
What a wonderful, beautiful, happy world that would be. But it never will be, will it? In this world that flies flags of power, shame and injustice, people's visions of the perfect world collide like asteroids; stripping away the decency of humanity. Earth is bittersweet; it's natural beauty tainted by the shadows that men cast upon it.
But if we look closely, very closely, into the cracks, there is still beauty to be found.
In the eyes of someone who loves you. In a baby's first smile. In the laughs that make you feel like you've done 100 sit-ups. In the tree's that rise from the ground; unrestrained and proud. Birds flying from one to the next, perched like kings; observing the world but not ruled by it. In the warmth of the sun on your face, and in the perfect symmetry of a snowflake. In the peace of silence, and in the music that narrates our lives.
Society may have us in 4-walled cages, but if you look to the sky you will see no bars.
We may not be able to save everyone. But there is beauty in the colourful memories they leave in the hearts of many; a bittersweet departing gift, never wanting to be received but treasured like diamonds. We may not live in a world where equality reigns, but there is beauty in the bravery to hold your head high and be you.
We spend our lives in black and white, searching for the colour to fill it. But the colour is all around you; vivid, blinding and beautiful.
We may not have the utopia we dream of, but in the small things, stacked high like skyscrapers, we create our own. Sometimes the world will send it falling to the ground.
But there is beauty in our power to rebuild it.