Have you ever seen
the celestial tardigrade
an organism so miniscule and keen
that it can float in the universe, a masquerade
performed by a trillion tardigrades
Isn't it too marvelous
to only appear on the AP Biology book
I was an astronomer. I studied the
elements of the universe, and conducted intensive research about stars and
black holes. The trillion stars scattered around the universe looked like
trillion tardigrades. As I knew more about black holes, I thought that I was
getting closer to the masquerade performed by many tardigrades. I was
astonished every time when I acquired knowledge because I felt that I was
having a more clear view of the tardigrade. My best day as an astronomer was
when my assistant told me that my conjecture was proven right.
“Dr. Strauss, the IAU (International
Astronomical Union) announced that your paper about the dark matter problem is
correct.”
“Then, you mean that I found out what
dark matter is made of?”
“Yes, they said that your conjecture was
proven without any error.”
I had just solved a mystery in astronomy.
I felt the tardigrade swimming inside my mind. Many newspapers started to cover
my discovery.
Dr. Strauss, Solved the Ultimate Problem
of Astronomy (Daily News)
The Mystery of the Universe Solved, Dr.
Strauss Says (Tribune)
However, the tardigrade soon disappeared
from my head. In fact, I did not solve the ultimate problem of astronomy. Many
problems sprouted out from my discovery, and my instinct told me that these
problems were too difficult for me. I failed to find the tardigrade. I had to
find another field of study where I could find it.
This was when I was 28 years old.
Have you ever seen
the marvelous tardigrade
In case you haven't,
It becomes a ball one moment,
but at the next
turns into a pitiful raisin.
Chewy but crispy at the same time!
What marvel are you tardigrade,
Be there God's blessing on
who describes you well!
I decided to become a biologist. I thought
that studying about living things would greatly help me finding the tardigrade.
Realizing that the most fundamental problem in biology was about finding the
source of life, I started to study life itself. I tried to revive corpses of
animals into life with water, and I found that water had the power to
temporarily give life to a frog. I conducted the same experiment to a mouse, a
cat, and a dog. The final step was to revive human life.
I collected corpses from a graveyard
near my house, and put the pieces into their right places like matching a
puzzle. Then, I inserted the perfect human figure into water and added a
special potion. The machine started to consume water, and I could see how the
corpse changed into a living thing. The corpse suddenly contracted to a ball,
and then turned into a human form by absorbing water. When I saw the creature
created by myself, I was astonished. The tardigrade was once more swimming in
my mind. But, similar to when I was an astronomer, the tardigrade quickly disappeared.
I was obstructed by many problems. Does
the creature deserve the same treatment as a human being created by a human
mother? Should the creature know ethics or law? What is the creature, or is it
even a living thing? These problems were outside my capacity. I failed again to
find the tardigrade. If someone was capable of well describing the tardigrade,
I would have hoped God to bless his brightness.
Have you ever seen
the garrulous tardigrade
a trillion of them
each with a trillion stories to tell
If you gather all of the gems
that these talkative creature yell
that we might just be able to
fill up an encyclopedia too
I realized that I only focused on the
sciences. However, starting to study humanities was too burdensome because my
age was already 40. I felt that my brain was becoming inflexible and my
learning abilities decreasing. I determined that the easiest way to expand my
interest to the humanities was becoming a writer.
I decided to write about what I knew the
most. Because I knew a lot about the universe because I studied that subject
for almost 15 years, my first novel was about people travelling the universe
and learning about the nature of time. I blended all things I knew about time
into my novel. In the novel, time changed when the characters passed a black
hole, and some recent discoveries about the universe were reflected in the
novel. So the universe was very well described, very close to its real
appearance.
While writing a story, I found out that
I had too many things to tell. Ideas spurt out of my head and I wrote the story
with one stroke of a brush. I realized that I was putting my thoughts about
time and the universe. As an astronomer, I only tried to find out the facts.
However, as a writer, I could include not only the facts, but my opinions. In
my novel, I stated that the universe was so vast that one individual was
smaller than a grain of sand when compared to the universe. I also implied that
because humanity is so small compared to nature, humans should never boast that
they are intelligent and great.
People told me that Time Travel, my novel, was great. They said that my descriptions
about the universe were delicate. Scientists told me that the universe depicted
in my novel was accurate, and was delivered in an easy way to understand. Novel
critics said that my novel contained profound ideas about the identity of humanity.
They said that my novel was the “standard” and “ideal” of all novels. The
tardigrade swam happily in my mind, in a new way.
However, the tardigrade disappeared
again. I had so many stories to tell. I felt that Time Travel did not include all the stories I wanted to tell. I
became a writer who created new stories everywhere, all the time. But nearly
75% of the stories were instantly proven useless, and the remaining 25% was
proven useless when I started to write a novel with them. I had too many
stories, but there were no useful stories. I had to create new and developable stories,
but it was too hard for me. I thought that writers who easily write complete
novels were born with talent.
When I decided to quit my occupation as
a writer, I was already 65 years old.
Have you ever seen
the dreaming tardigrade
who dreams of seeing the light
a light so bright
It can make wingless animals like me
to experience flight
Just like the Wright,
sometimes being fright,
but always the thing right?
When I attended high school, I listened
to a philosophy class since it was a required course. Because I thought that I
would be an astronomer, I did not listen to philosophy class carefully. But I
still remember one story that my philosophy teacher told me.
People
were living inside a cave. They were tied, so they could only see the shadows
on the cave wall. Because they were accustomed to darkness, they hated light.
They also thought that light was harmful because light made their eyes
temporarily blind.
One
day, a person cut the rope tying him and escaped the cave. He could not see the
light because he lived a long time in the dark cave. But he could slowly open
his eyes and see the objects outside the cave when some time passed. He was
surprised to see that objects had diverse colors, contrary to the monotone
shadows on the cave wall. After seeing the objects outside the cave, the person
returned to the cave and told people what he saw outside. The people who lived
their whole life inside the cave did not believe him and accused him as a liar.
He was a philosopher.
The
moral of this story is that philosophers see the true world outside the cave,
but normal people often only see the fake world. Philosophers try to describe
the real world but the mass do not believe them.
The philosopher’s job was to find the
tardigrade. They always dreamed to see the light outside the cave. I wanted to
become a philosopher, but it was too late. I was too old. I noticed that I
could not be a professional philosopher, but I thought about philosophical
problems when I had free time. I thought about what is humanity, what is life
and death, how should a person live, and why people struggle about their
existence.
I sometimes had answers to these
problems. When I had answers, the dreaming tardigrade was swimming in my mind.
The tardigrade was also emitting a very bright light. The tardigrade gave me
wings, enabling me to enter the ideal world full of tardigrades. I was
sometimes frightened to meet the tardigrade because it was so bright and great.
However, I knew that the tardigrade was always right.
For the most of the time, I was a
wingless creature. I seldom earned answers to these questions, and more inquiry
proved that my answers were not complete. I was obstructed by the ultimate
wall. My instinct told me that I could no longer continue searching the
tardigrade. I was too old and weak, and I experienced difficulty learning new
things. I had to stop.
Have you ever seen
the mysterious tardigrade
because I haven't
Not having a single idea
about what those guys are talking about.
I can be sure about one thing
They're not good at describing.
Look! There is the tardigrade. It is
rapidly swimming inside my head. It looks like an astronomer. No, it looks like
Aristotle. No, it looks like Plato. No, it looks like Newton. No, it looks like
J. K. Rowling. No, it looks like Arthur Clark. It changes its form every
second. It is like a boggart in the Harry Potter novel. I cannot tell how it
looks like!
I see a similarity in these figures. It
walks very slowly. This is the reason why it is called the tardigrade. While
walking slowly, it changes its form. I see people living in the future. They
are philosophers studying death. No one ever studied death until I lived.
It is celestial, marvelous, and
garrulous. It is dreaming. It is continuously thinking. It is walking, very
slowly. Wait! It is trying to talk to me.
“There
are human beings who try to find us. They should search us slowly and calmly,
just like we walk. Some geniuses try to find the tardigrade with the short and
easy way, but we tardigrades are mysterious. Keep these words in your mind.”
Yes, the tardigrade was right! Why did I
always try to take the easy way? The tardigrade cannot be found by studying
only one field. The tardigrade continuously moves from one field to another. I
tried to find the slow tardigrade while running. Naturally, I could not find
the tardigrade because my speed was not synchronized with that of the
tardigrade. No one can find the tardigrade in his lifetime because human life
is so short. Many people should devote themselves and accumulate their
knowledge when searching for the tardigrade.
I finished reciting his poem “The
Mysterious Tardigrade.” My father told his story while I was reciting the poem.
He was a true genius, but he was never satisfied. He achieved great things on
every field he tackled, but he failed to find the never-disappearing
tardigrade. He began to speak, with great effort. The shadow of death was
slowly approaching him.
“My son, continue searching for the
tardigrade. Most people stop searching for it when their education is over.
Most of them are lured by money or honor, so they deviate from the happy and
painful search of the tardigrade. Nevertheless, people should search for the
mysterious tardigrade.”
After saying this, Mr. Strauss, my
father, no longer breathed.
Some days passed, and his funeral was
conducted. I looked at where he was buried. His epitaph came into my eyes.
Here lies Arthur Strauss, the genius of the millennium
An analytical astronomer, a devoted biologist, a
descriptive writer, a dreaming philosopher, and a human who continuously
searched for eternal truth
“Nevertheless, people should search for the
mysterious tardigrade.”
-Arthur Strauss
I could see the tardigrade on my father’s gravestone.
