I think we can all easily agree that the cutest thing ever is a kitten hugging a rabbit, up in a tree, and they are scared because they don’t know how to get down, but at least they’ve got each other. We see this and think: Yes.
But if we pause, and take a step back, we realize that this is really only the cutest thing on the internet.
Some differences between real life and the internet:
- the types of harm that may befall you;
- the likelihood of someone you’ve never met using false accusations to destroy your will;
- the durability of your force field;
- your ability to breathe.
Maybe another idea for the cutest thing ever is when you are asleep in bed, and in the middle of the night the gray things come bending down out of the walls, slowly lowering their vapory torsos until their faces are hovering just inches from yours. And they sway and stare at you for hours, covering you like a writhing fog all night, and they would never touch you or try to wake you, even if you were in danger.
Which is to say: who is to say.
Which is to say: the night is not a metaphor. The night is what it always has been: a time of utter darkness. And look: in this darkness, the universe becomes illuminated.
Some differences between the night and the internet:
- the night has teeth, but they are often hidden;
- the internet has teeth, but they are often imaginary;
- the internet wants your spirit, and will die without it;
- the night is patient.
The internet can have it. The internet can has whatever it wants. The night is agnostic about the internet.
When you wake, you and I will be that kitten and that rabbit. And the tree will be the rattling binary of the internet. And how to get down will be wait until night. Let the day wash over you until all that is left is the universe.