But I Needed to Look Down

Dear Large Hadron Collider,

How are you? Excited, I’m sure, to be turned on late Tuesday night. I think that’s great. I think it’s great that they’re going to put you into action and that you might help us to know more of the secrets of the universe (like what dark matter is, whether there are other dimensions, and what the validity to the big bang theory is). I’m excited to know more about those things too.

I do have a concern though. It has been acknowledged that you have the potential to create black holes. Some scientists say that those black holes will not plausibly have the substantiality to survive. The black holes, they say, will flicker in and out like a candle’s flame. Other scientists, however, are worried that the black holes you create will swallow the earth, the universe, and everyone I know with them.

So that’s why I’m writing to you—I was wondering if there’s any way possible that you could make sure you don’t do the thing those second scientists think you’re going to. The reason being that I’m in love with the world right now and I think if you give it the chance it will show you some amazing things in the next decades. We’re in the middle of an election, LHC, and America is about to get the chance to redeem itself. Give it that chance. What happened in 2004 seemed like a vote for insanity (if you define insanity as the repetition of something that’s not working). Give us humans the chance to vote for change.

I’m in the middle of discovering what I want to do with my life, LHC, and it’s really exciting to me. I’m finding out that I’m passionate about playwriting and about making children’s books and about improvisation. I would hate it if you made us go to sleep early before I get a chance to write any of my picture books or plays or get to do any really good scenes.

I’m having so much fun with my friends, LHC, and I even feel like I was called to Chapel Hill so that I could meet these people. Don’t you think it would be more beautiful to make a vote for the idea of destiny. If you don’t blow us up then we’ll all know that our friendships really were meant to be (instead of designating them pointless due to brevity).

I love my family, LHC, and though I used to think the best way for us to go would be together, I can no longer really stand the idea of any of us going at all. I’m not done playing scrabble with my mom. I’m not done staying up late talking with my dad. And I’m not done getting beaten by my sister Sandy in Wii Tennis.

Finally, I’d really like to see what it’s like to spend the rest of my life with a girl I’m in love with, LHC. I’d really like to find out how I end up proposing to her and know what our children are like and get to see what our old person hands look like holding each other. Do we get to have a dog or a cat? Where do our children go to school? I want to find these things out someday very very badly.

So you do what you have to LHC, but please remember, if you refrain from ending everything for everyone I’ll owe you a really really big one.

Love,

Ben Greene (Human and Student)