I  have a pink post-it on my cheap Michael’s cork bulletin board. A post-it with “Goal Getter” plastered on the top, I find it funny. There are no “goals” written on it, no reminder, just my one-time passwords for my numerous accounts in case I lose my phone which has the authenticator app for those accounts. I have another pink “Goal Getter” post-it, it listed the roles and rules that different chess pieces have. I wrote that down during a time where I wanted to play “5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel” and be good at it. But like my password “Goal Getter” post-it, it wasn’t a goal that I’ve reached, but a forgotten dream. On the right side of the bulletin board I have a couple of bird feathers that belonged to two separate birds pinned to the board. Those who left me too soon, those that I was not prepared to lose. But here I sit, facing my $2000 white Alienware m15 R3 laptop, waiting for an eureka moment to write my next piece. Yet, as I sit here waiting all I can think about is how hallow I’m feeling, like a void wearing a fleshy suit.

I sit in my living room, with no space of my own to call my own. A 6-foot real Christmas tree standing all nice and chunky behind me, a time of joy and happiness. I have two 96-inch bird rope like perches hanging across my roof for my birds, one of them is groom themselves on that perch but I’m not sure who it is since I have not turned around to see who it is. It’s cold also, in this apartment. My mom doesn’t let me turn on the heat since they “apparently” turn on themselves. So here I am sitting in front of my computer with my bulletin board behind it, living like a void in a fleshy suit.

But this type of existence is reoccurring, a routine I developed for my everyday. I wake up, feed my animal babies, and living out the rest of the day living like a cold void in a fleshy suit. Facing the consequences of these actions, even so, I can’t bare to move from the bounds my couch holds. But as I turn my head towards my bulletin board, I see my “Goal Getter” post-its and I laugh.

“I was once a child reaching for the stars, but now I’m but a cold void living in a fleshy suit”.

You could hear the ocean waves collide with the sand, as if they longed for each other. As the waves gently touched the shore I felt the dewy grass touching my back feathers, companied with a soft wind that I could feel on my beak. I smell the ocean, the grass, the moisture in the air, but I’m scared to open my eyes. 

“Nieves…Nieves, wake up…” a strange voice whispered.

That voice sounds like yours, reminding me of the time you sang to me when you would cradle me in your hands,  When you would ever so softly caress the top of my small head with your fingertips. Slowly passing your fingertips by every feather.

“No, I don’t want to,” I responded to the strange voice.

“Nieves, what’s been done has been done. The past can’t be rewritten no matter how much we want it to,” the strange voice said.

That voice didn’t sound like yours anymore, it was the voice of a man. It has such a mellow tone, with just the sound of his voice my fear melted away. He placed his hand lightly on my chest, it was warm and delicate like your hands. But you weren’t here, in this unknown place I find myself in.

“Wh-Where are we?” I asked.

The strange man removed his hand from my chest, “This place, this is where sadness and pain doesn’t exist. Where you’ll never go hungry, where you’ll never feel fear, only joy and happiness.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nieves… This is Nirvana, paradise, the Garden of Eden, life after death.”

“Wha-What? What do you mean? I-I’m… I’m dead?”

“Open your eyes Nieves, and you’ll see,” the strange man said.

I slowly opened my eyes, as my eyes were slowly blinded by the light, as if I had my eyes shut for days. I see a blue cloudless sky, as if I was staring at a calm waveless ocean. I could feel more of the grassy dew as I lay on my back, the scent of the ocean grew stronger. I gradually turned my head to the stranger man, I needed to know who he was and if what he said was true. Our eyes locked onto each other, all I could see was an empty abyss in place of eyes. He looked like what ancient scriptures described him as, a skeleton cloaked in a black veil and with a large scythe in one hand. He was on one knee, using his scythe as a support, he placed his hand back on my chest.

“It’s time to go little one, I’ll take you to a place where you can fly freely with your kind and others,” Death said.

“How? How can your hand be so warm?” I asked.

Death chuckled as he stood up and answered, “I’m not as scary as living beings make me to be. This other world is just a second beginning.”

I wiggled a bit as I flipped myself over on my feet. My back all the way to my tail feathers were wet because of the grass. I turned around to the direction Death was facing, we were on a small cliff next to a beach. I looked out into the distance and the ocean seemed to be never ending. I looked up and noticed there was no Sun, no Moon, no stars, just an endless cloudless blue sky. I turned to face Death and just like the humans I was fairly small, only reaching midway of his shins. 

I looked up at Death and asked, “So what now?”

“I’m going to guide you to a place where there are other birds like yourself flying free, where you’ll wait for her,” Death said.

“Her? You mean-”

“Yes, your human companion, Rea. You’ll wait with the rest of the birds of Heaven, and once you are reunited with your human companion you may cross the Rainbow Bridge together in order to enter true paradise,” Death responded.

Rea, we’ll be reunited once again. So I may sing to you as you sang to me once again. So you can hold me in your arms again. Soon we’ll meet again so I can tell you how much I’ve missed you my dear Rea.

“Let’s go, Nieves, the other birds can’t wait to meet you,” Death said.

Death started walking in the opposite direction of the  ocean, as I took one last glance at the endless ocean I turned around and followed him. Soon I’ll see you again, Rea, as promised.

Days have gone

I still feel the same way

No different

From yesterday

The day before that

Or a day since that year

It’s still all the same

No change

No movement

No nothing

Nothing

Absolutely nothing

Nothing at all

The days feel all the same

Dull and as if time has stop

But time moves so quickly

I fear

Yes, fear

That this will never change

Change would be nice

But my soul refuses to move

What if I never forget

But I don’t want to forget

But I have to

But I don’t want to

I’m in rapid decay

I feel my skin slowing drying out

Flaking off

Like a fish?

Yea like a fish

A fish out of water

A fish suffocating without water

Lost of breathe

This may never end

I’m not ok with that

Yet, I haven’t done anything

A cycle of never ending

Never ending?

Yes, never ending

Of what?

Never ending

Fear?

I guess

Sadness?

Probably

Loneliness?

Maybe

I remember the days of when time wasn’t like this

It was pure bliss like the garden of Eden

There was love and happiness

But those days are gone

Time to move on

I guess

I guess?

I guess I hope the past would repeat itself again.

On a popular social media platform, that being Instagram, I endlessly scroll on my search for a worthy meme to send to my twin sister. Upon that journey I come across Kylie Jenner with her beloved daughter Stormi. “Beautiful”, I think to myself. I don’t bother reading the caption since the image itself spoke to me. Kylie has given her daughter a $12k Hermes backpack for her first day of homeschooling. As I snuck my way to the comment section there is a split in the audience, one side loving how adorable Stormi is and the another side “hating” on Kylie for foolishly spending her wealth on material items and supposedly teaching Stormi to grow up as a spoiled brat. I stood on no side.

Kylie Jenner estimated wealth is around $700 million, weather or not  you agree in the methods she used to collect such a colossal wealth, Kylie stands upon the 1% along with the rest of her family. In the past years the Kardashian/Jenner clan have given rise to the next generation of Kardashians/Jenners and as most will assume these children will live a life that most of us cannot fathom. As these children are born into this family they enter the world of the ultra wealthy and similar to the old European history of divine right, these children will inherit the prosperities their parents have collected.

Dynastic wealth, as a quick google search will define it as; “occurs when families pass money down from one generation to the next”. As stated before I find it oddly comical in the similarity in dynastic wealth and the divine right of kings, one being a god given right to rule and the other being a god given right to wealth. However, dynastic wealth has little to do with religion.

Unfortunately, we cannot look into the future, however, we can always predict the infinite outcomes of how the future will form. As seen today the Kardashian/Jenner clan mostly gain a lot of traction in popularity by flaunting their wealth on social media. You’ll see designer goods that range in the thousands or even close to the millions. I predict that the heads of the clan will teach their children to do the same and show them their methods of increasing the family wealth for future generations. Yet, what about morals?

When I say morals I’m not talking about how Kim’s sex tape got leaked and her mother saw an opportunity and took. But I’m mostly talking about the ways they use their wealth. Now it might seem hypocritical of me saying that since I said I stood on no side when Kylie gifted Stormi a $12k Hermes backpack. I myself am not a parent but most parents want to give their children the world and if they have the money then why not? Wouldn’t you want to give your children everything and anything? At the end of the day its Kylie’s wealth and weather or not you agree, she’s allowed to spend that wealth however way she sees fit. Yet, I can’t help but think; do all these ultra wealthy individuals not see the calamity that goes on in the world? Or maybe they just choose to ignore it?

I’m not into finances nor do I know anything about finances. I’m not gonna give the argument “the rich should pay this or that, the rich should pay more, etc”. This mostly stems from my frustration of feeling useless when I see someone in need and I’m unable to help them for the simple fact that I don’t have the wealth to do so. Many may agree and many may disagree but money is what runs this world and without it nothing can be changed. We live in a world where it’s slowly burning to death, mass extinctions, war and famine ravaging our world, and so on. Now the ultra wealthy have the right to spend their money however they see fit but what’s stopping them from giving, even if it’s a extremely small percentage of their wealth, to help improve the world that at the end of the day we all live in.

All rich individuals are not the same though, some give and some spend their money. Even so, our planet Earth has reach a critical point in time where action is needed and none is taking place. Elon Musk has bloomed the idea of making Mars our new home, I personally find that insulting. Elon Musk CEO of SpaceX, one of the leading tech companies with an accumulated wealth of $185.7 billion. Musk is one of the most wealthiest men in the world, making his net worth seem like pocket change compared to what Kylie Jenner has accumulated. Before Musk the idea of space travel and breaching the space frontier was popular, however, Musk made that idea explode with tremendous popularity. The exploration and colonization of space is one of the biggest barriers we as the human race can overcome and I am all for it. Yet, should we just let our home, planet Earth, die just because we found a “new” home? A “home” that 90% of the population will never experience since the price tag for a ticket to Mars is in the millions of dollars.

Just like Kylie, Musk is a parent and has a son, he will never know what hunger, illness, or lost feels like. He will continue to live a life of pure luxury, that’s what we all want for our children. Musk will pass down his wealth and his family will never know what struggle feels like for generations to come. While there are families struggling to feed their children or keep a roof over their heads.

I can’t help but wonder, as these families continue to pass down their massive wealth generation after generation and continue to increase it, do they not feel for the state that the world is in? If they are aware of the issue why do they ignore it? With the power to change how the world runs, why don’t they do it?