Not Just Human Arrogance

Category A: Highly Commended (2023) Monash Short Story Writing Competition
Author: Austin Su

‘You know, I still think sometimes that it’s funny, the extent of human arrogance. That we thought we could beat climate change, which really was just the inevitable waxing and waning of earth’s fickle temperature. In the vast cosmos, who are we, really, to presume so?

But then it happened.

Scary, really, to think that if one day had gone differently, maybe this all wouldn’t have happened. But there again is it not poetic that ultimately it was not cosmological significance, but an appreciation of humans that helped me save the world?

It was a spring day, I remember. When I was young, I was so full of ambition. I wanted to save the world.

But then life happened. I became an astrophysicist, and perhaps that’s what got me thinking. Of infinite worlds in the universe, why was ours significant? I thought it was just human arrogance.

That spring day, I stepped out of the university defeated. We were insignificant after all. So what was the point of trying to fight the inevitable?

To make matters worse, I got a call from the hospital. My mother was dying.

On her deathbed she told me, ‘Son, I lived an incredibly fulfilling life. I helped so many people. That’s what I was put on this world for. Well, I’ve done my thing.’ A final warm smile, and she was gone.

I walked along the streets, head hung, until I came to a bridge. I stared at the water far below. I vaguely registered a young boy beside me.

I stopped him from jumping. He said that he was depressed because he couldn’t do anything about climate change.

I said that it was my life’s ambition to stop it. He smiled. ‘Me too,’ he replied, ‘but what if it’s hopeless?’

‘It’s not,’ I assured him. ‘Go home, lad. There’s a lot of life ahead.’

I know not what became of him, but I hope something great.

I didn’t really believe what I’d told him. I almost jumped. But then as I looked at the water the sun began setting. The sky turned beautiful hues of indigo and scarlet and fiery orange, refracting in brilliant arcs on the water. It was magnificent.

Behind me, a bicycle raced past. I turned around to see my friend smiling and waving. She threw me a croissant.

I thought about what my mother said about being placed here for a reason.

I smiled. ‘Catch you on Sunday!’

Perhaps we’re insignificant cosmologically. But that should never have stopped us from appreciating things that matter to us.

After that, the rest is in the history books. But the general idea is, it happened, me at the vanguard. We defied human insignificance and saved the world. Funny I once thought believing it was possible was just human arrogance.’

– From the memoirs of Sir Denzel Lim, Parliamentarian and founder of the Global Council, head of ASIS, noted for his major part in reversing climate change, written spring of 2063, early neomodern era.